


The Forsaken Dark

by Linlin23



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q - Freeform, Action, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, And Now For Something Completely Different, BAMF M, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/F, F/M, M/M, Magic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Q as a mage, Romance, Slow Build, world crafting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-05
Updated: 2015-03-23
Packaged: 2018-02-19 23:03:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2406146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Linlin23/pseuds/Linlin23
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magi Queen of the North-lands, M, has been in constant war with The Dark for ages.  However, her enemies have gained a new boon in one of M's former agents. Drawing in her defenses, M accepts a proposal from a foreign lord.  James, her top agent, finds himself unexpectedly saddled with the protection of the strange man Q, who is somehow tied to M.  Even as the Dark gathers, James knows not all is as it seems, and the secrets that M holds could bury them all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Foreign Lord

James looked out over the court, his cold, blue eyes taking in all.  He shifted slightly as he watched the strangers enter the throne room.  His queen sat upon the throne, her stoic frown permanently in place, which made the corner of his mouth twitch.  Some might think she was displeased, but James knew she wasn't; she was calculating.  She reached up a hand, holding it out to the foreign lord, who strode forward, taking her fingers gently in his grasp.  He gently kissed her rings, his blue eyes taking in the silver haired woman with a soft smile.

"Lord Mallory," the queen said, her tone aloof as she gently pulled back her hand.  "We are pleased to see you have found your way, safely into our halls."

"My queen," Mallory bowed lightly, smiling at the older woman charmingly.  "You are as beautiful as they say."

"Really?" The queen asked in disbelief, her facade of ice breaking for a moment before she regained her cold demeanor.  "Surely, such tales may have been true.  Once.  However, I'm not so unaware of reality as to have missed the fact that time has taken its toll upon me."  James' features tightened, his eyes focusing in on the exchange in surprise.  His queen rarely broke her cold facade, and never to a new acquaintance.  He focused more closely on the visiting lord, taking note of how the man gave the woman a coy grin in return.

"Then, if you are insinuating that your beauty has diminished, I am glad I had not the pleasure of visiting your court in my youth.  I'm afraid I would have been enthralled."

"Are you suggesting you're not enthralled now?" The queen asked coolly, her eyes alight as dancing sapphires.

"You give me pause," Lord Mallory bowed again.  "I'm finding myself more enchanted by the moment.  Should I be concerned?"  The flirtations were expected, though James found it unsettling how welcoming the looks of his queen were to the foreigner.

"What do you think?" Alec's voice called to James softly, as the dark clad rogue came up to stand beside James on the balcony that overlooked the proceedings.  James titled his head toward the man in acknowledgement, but he said nothing.  Alec chuckled, slapping a hand over James' shoulder.  James held back a growl, instead keeping his eyes on the movements around the room.

"I _think_ M knows what she's doing," James said, using his Magi Queen's offered name.  Alec had long suspected James knew the Magi Queens birth name, but he had never pried it from his fellow agent.  Even now, he raised a curious brow to his companion, to which James replied by rolling his eyes. 

"Her Majesty is drawing in her defenses," Alec hummed, leaning over the balcony as he watched the foreign lord's charms being received with a amusement by their lady.  "Do you think he'll make her happy?"

"For his sake, he better hope he's up to the task," James said.  His eyes focusing down on the scene bellow as Lord Mallory gestured to one of his companions who was kneeling before them.  James caught the introduction the Lord made for his ward.  When M rose from her throne, stepping past the Lord, James straightened.  Unconsciously, the agent's hand slid down to the hilt of a hidden dagger about his waist as he watched his white garbed queen, ever elegant and poised, descend the few steps of the raised throne.  Alec straightened as well, his fingers twitching to reach for the crossbow slung over his shoulder.

Their silver haired queen did not leave her dais to greet another.

"I have been expecting you," M said, raising a hand to the five men kneeling before her.  To James' surprise, of the five, the smallest man rose to stand before his queen.  The lad was younger than any of the others who had accompanied Lord Mallory.  He was dressed in a riding coat, vest, breaches and gloves.  His brown mop of curls hung unruly about a face.  Deep brown eyes were framed behind thick glasses.

"Ma'am," The man said, giving an incline of his head.  The room as a collective drew in breath.  Alec's eyes bulged and James blinked several times at the disrespectful greeting.  The Ward was not adverting his eyes, and the greeting was not one even James would use unless in the most privet of conversations.  Even then, as far as he knew, she only just tolerated such insolence from him.  What grace she allowed on his account was only due to their history together.  That, and his long and faithful term in her service.  M's mouth held a stiff frown, but James could see her eyes dancing with unnatural light as the thin, pale skinned man took her offered hand, dropping a kiss to her knuckles.

"Am I your mother?" M asked the lad, who seemed utterly confused, his head dipping slightly.

"N-no?" His words came out as near a question as a statement.  The young man shot a glance past M, his brown eyes falling to his Lord searching for an answer.  Mallory gave a slight shake of his head.

"Am I you're nursemaid?" She clarified, shifting tactics slightly.

"No," He said again, this time more firmly.  He straightened, rolling his shoulders back, though she still held his hand firmly in hers.  James found himself leaning over the balcony, a smile pulling at his lips as he waited for his queen's proverbial killing stroke.

"Then I am not 'Ma'am' to you," M said, even as the Ward looked exceedingly confused.  "You may call me Majesty, Your Grace, or Magi Queen of the North," She said, as she watched the young man's chastised expression. "I'd prefer it, however, if you'd call me M." Once more everyone's breath managed to draw in again with another collective gasp.  The courtiers instantly stepped back, astonished that their queen would grant permission for the stranger to use her offered name.  Somehow the young man who stood before her was oblivious to all of this, his eyes focused solely on M.

Then M smiled.

James eyes bulged, Alec gapping next to him as everyone in the room shared a dumbfounded expression.  "Yes, forgive me, Majesty.  M." The lad said, somehow oblivious to the courtesy he'd been given.  Not only had she granted him permission to use her offered name, but she had gifted the man her smile.  The lad gave a shy, half cocked grin, and James about fell from his angled perch above them all as he watched M embrace the young man in a warm hug.

"What the bloody hell is this?!" James murmured under his breath in disbelief.

"And, what shall I call you?" M asked as she pulled back.

"I am called Q," The man smiled softly back at M, and James watched as some of the more delicate ladies of the room feinted away.

"A bloody wizard!" Alec hissed, grasping a heavy hand about James' shoulder when the man used an offered name.  "How'd we not know that he had a bloody, fucking wizard in his troupe?!  Damn 003 for doing such a half assed job!"

"Well, Q," M said, turning gracefully as she extended a hand toward the Lord who looked pleased as punch  when he accepted her graces' hand in his own, "Lord Gareth Mallory, I would like show you something."

"I'll tail them," Alec said, patting James' shoulder.

"I've got it," James said, carefully sidestepping the other agent.

"Yeah, I know you do," Alec chuckled, giving the man a wink, but quickly stepping into pace with the blond agent.  "But it's not every day you see M smile."

"You imply you've seen her smile before," James said as they made their way over to one of the windows and opened the paned glass.  James slipped out first, Alec following behind him.

"Have you?" Alec asked as they made their way across the castle's walk-way. Instead of following the allure back into the castle, they climbed upon the battlements.  Alec cocked a grin at James as the man leapt, gracefully landing upon a battlement that overlooked the evergreen courtyard that held M's favorite gardens.  Below stood a wealth of color against the white stones of the castle, and the snow that was a constant companion to those of the North.  Alec made the jump, landing just behind James as the other agent settled upon the walk-way.  "Well?"

"I've seen her smile," James admitted, his gaze watching for the movement from the courtyards' gated doors.  Eventually they opened, and M lead the two men out into the cold green garden.  He glanced once to his companion, offering a smirk, "It was just after that incident with the Lady Kincaid.  I had the good sense to run and hide for a full moon afterward."

Alec snorted, a soft chuckle in his throat.  "Oh, yeah, Lady Kincaid, the one with the um, yeah?" He made a gesture, to which James nodded once.  In the next second, James gripped a hand about Alec's bracer, stilling the man's arm and pulling him down lower to the stone of the walkway upon which they took view.  James felt the eyes upon them before the man had even turned around.  The Lord's Ward, Q, had shifted, turning to stare up at the at the battlements where the agents hid.

"Q," M called, coming to stand beside him, and sliding a hand over young man's shoulder.

"There are eyes hidden in shadow," Q said, his eyes staying focused upon where James had pulled Alec to lay flat across the walkway.  "Maybe I am just unused to the cold," he chuckled.  "It makes the hairs on the back of your neck raise."

"It is cooler in the North-lands then where you are from.  However, don't discount that feeling.  You are not wrong.  There are eyes enough in the shadows.  However, in my kingdom, they belong to me."

"Will we be meeting your infamous agents then, Majesty?" Lord Mallory inquired, and James sighed as he punched Alec's shoulder.  Silently he cursed his fellow for drawing the attention of their guests.

"If they'd stop behaving as errant children," M grumbled.  Following the uspoken command, James and Alec relinquished their hiding spot from the parapet shadows.  Both of the Shadow Agents slipped over the edge of the garden wall, dropping into the courtyard to kneeling before their queen and her guests.  "Lord Mallory, Q, these are two of my agents.  006 and 007."

"006 and 007?  What sort of names are those?" Q asked, arching a brow at the kneeling men.

"This coming from a child named 'Q'?" James huffed, earning a snicker from Alec.

"007!" M snapped.  Alec had the grace to keep his head bowed, but he was grinning impishly at James.

"Child?" Q asked, indignation evident in his tone.  "I suppose, given your age, all must seem as children."

"Only those with spots," James countered.  Q's jaw clenched, but M threw up her hands, her endless grace broken with frustration.

"Enough, both of you!" M admonished, frowning once at Q but openly glaring at 007.  "Q, as you are obviously aware, names have power.  Though my agents are not magi, there is still power to be gained by holding another's name.  My agents often use their birth names at their own discretion, of course.  However, I have granted them the protection with an offered named.  For those who fight the Dark, even such a small thing could mean the difference in life or death.  Now," she sighed, looking from Q to James, "It would be for the best if you two were to get along."  James frowned, his eyes locking onto M at the last.

"I fail to see how that matters," James said, ignoring the 'shut up!' covert glances he was getting from Alec.

"Really?" M hummed, something akin to humor in her voice.  "I should have thought it would be obvious.  Lord Mallory," M said turning to the Lord, "I thank you for bringing me your Ward.  I will keep my promise, and ensure his safety."

"Bloody hell," James grumbled, forgetting decorum and rising from the kneeling position.  The man pulled his strong arms across his chest, returning M's glare for one of his own already sensing where this was headed.

"007 is my best agent.  He'll be shadowing Q-"

"What?!" Q baulked, brown eyes going wide behind thick glasses as he stepped back from both M and 007.  "This is _really_ unnecessary.  Majesty-"

"Are you thinking to question me _now_ , Q?"  M asked, turning a cold glare upon the younger man.

"No, Ma'am," Q said, flinching as he caught his slip.  James watched as M held her stoic expression, but the warmth in her eyes did not faulted.  "006," M motioned to Alec, gesturing to the two guests, "please escort these men through my gardens, and then show them and their fellows to their quarters.  In the east wing Moneypenny has seen to establishing several rooms."

"Yes, My Queen," Alec grumbled.  Alec, at least, was wise enough to not question the powerful woman to her face.  Even if it lead to him being placed on babysitting duty.

"We will see you later, then," Lord Mallory bowed low.  His Ward doing the same, following his Lord's cue.

"007," M turned to the blond and tan skinned man.  Tilting her head to the side, she gestured to the gate entrance that lead back into the castle.  "Walk with me."  With a small growl, James followed his Queen's cue, and took her lead back into the castle.

"You planed this," James accused once they were out of ear shot of the guests in the gardens.  M didn't deny the accusation. Turning a sapphire gaze upon James, she turned her chin up at the man.

"Are you not my best agent?" M asked, as she all but glided across the crystalline tiles that lined the enchanted castle's halls.

"I'm sure Alec would be more then capable." James offered his friend up as the proverbial sacrifice, though he knew it would do no good.  Once M had her mind set, there was nothing short of death that could dissuade from her chosen course of action.  Even then, that was no guaranty.

"I have need of Alec.  There are other matters to which he must attend," M stopped, turning back to James, her glistening white gown gathering about her legs.  "I'm entrusting you with this task, James.  We need Q if we are to face what is coming."

"He's a boy," James frowned, shaking his head in dismay.  "What good will a boy do against the Dark?  He's young, and weak even for a mage.  He has the weight of one who could be taken over by a strong breeze."

"He's a Far Seer," M said.  Causing James to blink once, twice, before once more frowning.

"That won't protect him from the likes of SIlva," James said, to which M blue eyes smiled back at James.

"No, but that's why you will keep to him, 007."

"Is this because of the mark? I'm fit for combat," James hissed, rotating his shoulder unconsciously.  The injury still stung, the cursed bolt that had struck him had been pulled from his shoulder, but not before leaving it's mark.  "There's no call in forcing my confinement into the castle walls as a sitter for a pup of a mage."

"I have no intention of that," M said, her eyes maintaining the smile that never touched her lips.  "You're no good to me out there at present.  For now, however, I can rest at ease, knowing that you will be the one to keep my new apprentice safe."  James jaw dropped, any final words to refuse dying back as he stared in shock at his Queen.

"M..." James felt his heart drop as he blinked at the woman in disbelief.

"Now, don't be like that," M hummed, turning away from her agent as she turned down the corridor that lead to her privet chambers.  "I expect you will take this task to heart."

"Ma'am," James bowed stiffly, before swiftly turning on his heel to head out to the castle's east wing.

TBC~

* * *

 


	2. The Apprentice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Q leaves James with questions.

James found Alec talking to the ever beautiful Eve Moneypenny just outside the main hall.  Spotting James, the other agent gave a cheeky grin, waving the blond agent over.  James had no intention of indulging the man, but Eve turned her sweet eyes upon him, full lips parting into a knowing smile.  Sighing, the agent headed toward the two, accepting that he would have to face their conjoined crowing sooner or later.  Might as well go for the former.

"Why, 007, I see you've got a fine young man under your guard now," Eve purred.  The dark skinned woman's eyes smiled up to the man who was giving the two his best impression of a stoic M.  "Now, now, 007, don't be like that.  In fact, I must say, I rather like the lad."

"Are you headed straight away looking for mage-ling?" Alec asked.  James debated telling them.  However, he swallowed the retort that would kill their mirth in his throat.  It would be M's place to announce the apprenticeship.  Besides, despite how much he disliked being the source of their humor, it was better than being the cause of their sadness.

"Where is he?  I'll need to familiarize myself with the mark~"

"James!" Eve snipped, slapping the man's shoulder.  "He's not a mark.  You've spent too long in the field."

"I'm going to be the boy's shadow," James frowned.  "I'll be following M's direct orders to tail around after the kid.  Yes, Eve, he's a mark."

"Right!  How could I have thought differently," Eve huffed.  "Well, Q isn't in his chambers.  I was in the library when Alec tried to take them to their rooms.  Seems his feet have a mind of their own."

"Probably still has his nose buried in a book," Alec shrugged.  One of James' brows rose, a look of disbelief crossing his features.

"A stranger, in our home, and you just let him go off on his own?"  James asked.

"Might as well," Alec said, un-phased by the look on James' face.  "They'll have to find their way about sooner or later.  Their stay is going to be rather indefinite if M accepts the proposal.  Which, as everyone knows, she will."

"Right," James turned sharply from the two, not wishing to discuss M or any of her intentions at present.

"Be nice to the lad!" Eve called after him, her honeyed voice laced with humor.

James made his way through the halls and into the library.  He could have taken any of the hidden paths, but there was little point in that at present since Alec had either intentionally, or unintentionally forced their introductions.  James was sure it was the former.  Instead he took to finding the man who apparently couldn't keep his feet under the control of his mind.

M's library was impressive, surely, but most of the works were useless to the magically disinclined.  The multi-leveled bookshelves were accessible via several rolling ladders, though those were not installed for M.  Instead, they were for the benefit of those who came to serve under the woman.

M had a habit of picking up strays.  Wayward youths, refugees, and orphans were what had made up the majority of the woman's castle.  They did not have an army, not in the sense as many kingdoms understood it.  M used stealth, wit, and magic to defend her lands.  If you happened to reside in them, then you fell under her protection.  If you did not want to be under her rule, you could leave, but the Dark boarder  much of the North-lands.

James opened the double glass doors that led out onto the overlook that extended off the library.  He stepped out into the cool winds, leaning over the stone railing that provided an expansive view of the white and green valley below.  Just beyond were the not so distant black mountains that held about their peaks strange shadows.  Even though the sun should have blotted them from existence, they hovered, a black fog on the horizon.  The shadows were not natural.  They crept against M's boarders, always trying to cross into her lands.

"It's a bit melancholy, don't you think?" A man's soft voice, carried on the wind, broke James' focus on their border lands.  He glanced around, until he realized the voice was coming from below the balcony.  Looking down, upon the edge of the balcony's stone carved rain gutters, sat Q.  One leg draped over a rainspout gargoyle, the other was folded neatly under him as he cradled a tome in his lap.  "The inevitability of it all, I suppose."

"Right," James sighed.  Fucking mages.  They could never be comfortable unless they were in some precarious or dangerous position.  Though, and he would only admit this to himself, it peeved him more because apparently the younger man had managed find one of his own favorite hiding spots so easily.  Flipping over the balcony, James silently stepped across the ledge, before nestling down beside Q.  "I don't think this is what M had in mind when she said I was to guard you."

"I'm perfectly fine at caring for myself," Q snipped, snapping the tome across his lap closed.

"Says the man balancing precariously upon a precipice," James observed blandly.  Q's chuckle surprised James, but apparently it surprised the young magi as well.

"Is this a lecture?" Q asked, the corner of his mouth quirking.

"Possibly.  You look just this side of your twenties," James commented, earning a frown from the younger man.

"Given how a magi takes to aging, I'm sure I'll maintain a youthful expression for many a decade to come.  Unlike some, who will become unable to rise over a railing without their limbs giving a creek."

James stared at and Q.  The two shared in an identical look.  If he had to guess who started to laugh first, he could not have said.  Q raised a pale hand, long slim fingers held in offering.  James considered it for a moment, before grasping it in his own.

"Pleasure, to meet you 007," Q said, a smile quirking up half his features.

"Bond.  James Bond," James offered his name freely to the mage, causing the man to flounder as he shook the man's hand before releasing the grasp.

"I-I had assumed your name was to be kept a secret.  Do you often go about advertising it so openly to strangers?" Q queried.

"Yes," James said with little pause.  "I'm no mage, and I rather like that my enemies cringe when they hear who I am."

"Then why bother with such a cover as 007?" Q asked, as James rolled his eyes, trying to think of a polite way of wording what could come off as disrespectful toward his queen.

"M worries.  Too much," James said, rolling his tongue against the words.  "That, and I think she remembers us easier if we're in number format."

"You think she needs a number to remember you?" Q scoffed, his attention drawn away from the shadows of the mountains.  "She seemed overly fond of you, her 'best agent', as I recall."

"Well," James leaned back tilting his head as he took in the view, "I tend to leave an impression."

"Indeed, you do," Q's brow furled as he looked suspiciously at Bond.

"Is that what you were doing out here?  Contemplating my _impression_ upon you?" Bond smirked at the mage who flushed near instantly.

"No, not exactly.  I was actually watching that," Q nodded back towards the view, specifically toward the snowless mountain peeks that lined the border lands.  "The shadows fall un-naturally.  They are not chased away by the sun."

"It's the Dark," James said simply earning an exasperated look from the mage.

"Yes, well, maybe you are used to the idea of shadows bearing life.  In other lands, this is actually quiet strange."

"Is it now?" James asked, pulling up a knee against his chest as he examined the mage.  "That's not true.  Stories, maybe things most don't believe, but it is bleeding out even into the lower lands.  Children stolen from their beds in the dead of night.  Tales of monsters, shapes in shadow, a knowledge that you are being watched even when alone.  Most aren't even aware just how far the Dark has sunk it's tendrils in the Midlands. Surely, you've experienced it? "

"I long ago stopped listening to ghost stories designed to frighten children.  So, no.  I'm sorry, Sir, but your renditions of boogiemen do not scare me." Q quipped back hastily, pulling himself up carefully, one hand on the railing as the other clutched the book towards his chest.  He spared the mountain range one final glance before climbing the railing and heading back into the library.  James let him go.  When he heard the door to the library close, the agent leaned back, blue eyes focusing on the far off shadows.

"Then why do you run?" James asked under his breath.  A ghost of a movement caught his eye, and the agent watched as  white flake of snow, the first of many, began to fall.

~*~

"Making friends?" Mallory asked his ward when the mage came upon him.  Mallory had stayed in the quarters given to him for a moment, before finding his way back down to the stables.  A child ran behind Q, a sack of feed in his hands.  Raising the heavy feeding bag, he handed it over to the Lord with a gap toothed grin.  Mallory chuckled, ruffling the boy's ginger hair before he tied the feed bag around his mount's head.

"Not as much as some, it would seem," Q hummed, watching the boy dart away to attend duties that did not involve aiding the Lord who desired to attend his horse.  "Really, you can't let anyone else handle Jacob?" Q walked up to the tall stallion, running a hand over the creatures chestnut brown coat.

"He reminds me of you," Mallory grinned at Q, nodding back toward the boy who was rushing about, stumbling over his own feet.

"Surely not.  I was never a stable boy," Q stated simply, stealing a brush from a nearby shelf and joined his Lord in caring for the horse by running the brush across the creature's coat.

"No, that's true." Mallory nodded, murmuring a few words in their native tongue to the creature as he rubbed it gently behind it's ears.  "So have you?"

"Have I what?" Q asked, continuing his work across Jacob's back.

"Been making friends." Mallory sighed, holding out his hand for the brush.  Q stopped, pondering the thick bristled wooden brush in his fingers before handing it over.

"If you have something you wish to say, please do us all a favor and be blunt about it.  You've never held back before."

"I've never seen you challenge a trained killer before," Mallory said, bluntly.

"I've never met a trained one before?" Q offered, but it didn't change his Lord's stoic expression.  "Right, too soon?"

"Q, M's agents are trained to fight against the Dark, and are known to slaughter any who aid them.  I've heard they even cross into their borders.  At first, I didn't believe that last, but now..."  Mallory leveled his gaze on Q when the man quirked a brow in question.  "That man is a killer, Q.  His eyes are cold as death.  I want you to be careful.  I'm joining with M, but that does not mean we should walk blindly to her tune."

"Wasn't it per your betrothed's command that 007 was to become my shadow?" Q huffed, crossing his arms.  Mallory placed a hand on Q's shoulder, squeezing lightly.  "Isn't it a bit late to be considering my safety?"

"Why, pray, do you think we are here?" Mallory demanded, causing Q's response to catch in his throat.  The Lord stared at his ward before patting him firmly on the shoulder, pushing him back the way he'd come.  "Go Q.  Just watch your shadow."  Q frowned, but gave a stiff nod before leaving Mallory to attend his mount in piece.

Q went back toward the castle's arched entrance, and was instantly aware of a pair of honey brown eyes on him.  The woman he'd met in the library, a Miss Eve Moneypenny smiled becomingly at him from the top of the stairs that lead to the castle's arched entrance.  "Q, I was told to see to your clothing."

"My clothing?" Q looked down at his riding cloths as he ascended the stairs.  "They're fine, but thank you."

"No, Sweetness," Moneypenny purred holding out a hand to the mage.  "You're not dressed for the feast."

"Feast?  I understand enough to know that my riding gear will not be appropriate at the dinner table, Miss Moneypenny," Q said flatly.  "I wasn't, however, aware that there would indeed be a feast."

"Call me Eve," She smiled at him, un-phased by his cold address.

"Eve, then," Q nodded at the woman unconsciously warming to the soft smile never faltered.  She lead him back through the castle.

Several halls and a climb up a set of stairs lead him to a pleasantly acquainted room.  One bed, a wardrobe, several chairs and a collection of thick fur rugs lined the cold, stone floor.  A window seat offered a view from the castle out over the ice filled ocean waters that laid farther north.  Upon the bed was laid out a an embroidered vest, a soft, silk shirt, a heavy over coat, and dark breaches.  The outfit was complete even with a set of soft, leather boots.

"It is not that I'm ungrateful," Q said, letting a finger slide against the rich fabric of the vest.

"But you'd prefer something more suited to you," Eve said, coming forward into the room, gesturing off to the side.  Upon a chair laid his pack, and a set of his own clothing had been pulled from it.  "I assumed as much.  M, however, wanted to give you the option to shine.  I wish we could allow you a chance to bath before the feast, but I assure you there will be a waiting bath after."

"I thank you, and her Grace, but I shall have to insist upon shining another day," Q grinned at her. "I'd much rather have a bath then a feast to be honest." Moneypenny tapped a finger across the thick knitted tan sweater that lay over the simple brown breaches and white linen shirt.

"I'm sure, but your party arrived much later then we'd planned.  Also, don't worry, about dressing simply tonight.  I'm sure a day will come when you will be forced into finery," Moneypenny said as she turned to leave the room.  Grasping the door handle in her palm, she pulled it to give the man privacy.  "I'll see to it your guardian gathers you for the feast.  So you don't get lost," She finished with a wink, before leaving the man be.

Dressing in his regular garb, and scrubbing the best he could in the wash basin, Q felt more at ease then he had since arriving.   His fingers plucked upon the threads of the thick, woolen sweater.  The knitted garment had been one of many gifted to him by Eleanor, a kindly old lady who'd practically raised him since he was first found.  Well, that is to say she raised him in as much as anyone had.  Q had learned to take care of himself long before he'd been picked up my Lord Mallory.  Necessity demanded such.  Hence, this was why he would not be waiting to be 'gathered' by anyone.  He opened the door to almost receive a knock against his head from a raised fist.

"Well, you look...  Different," James said, shaking his head at the sight before him.  "Aiming for the casual look, I see?"  Q flustered, purposefully crossing his arms over his knitted chest as he glared defiantly at the agent, James Bond.  James, who too had changed clothing into a gray and silver overcoat and vest. Q tried not to focus on how well it fitted the man's form, considering he still held two blades secured upon his hips.

"I'm not sure how my dress should be of interest to you, or anyone, 007," Q snipped.  He wasn't about to remove the sweater.  It still smelled of the spices of Eleanor's kitchen and it was the one thing that was reminding him of the land he'd been plucked away from.  "Besides, I'm sure all eyes will be more aptly pointed at my Lord and the Queen.  If they wanted some to look at someone for pleasure of dress or build, I'd be the last person upon which an eye would linger."  Bond paused, whatever he aimed to say caught up in his throat as he looked at the young mage in disbelief.

"You're a mage, new to the court, and you think you won't have an eye upon you?"  Bond shook his head, stepping back and gesturing down the corridor from whence he'd come.  "Shall we?  I think I will find pleasure in seeing you proven wrong."

~*~

James realized that, yes, he was correct.  He did enjoy watching the mage proven wrong, and soon hoped that this would be merely the first in many instances to follow.

They had arrived, and James and nicked away into the background of the dining hall, leaving Q to flounder as he was rushed upon by over curious courtiers and several gentlemen.  Their questions left little time for an answer, and Q often missed the opportunity to respond altogether.  However that did not mean that the discussion had halted.  James tried, and failed, to hide the grin that quirked the edge of his lips as he watched the man fumble his way through the evening's greetings.  James idly wondered how he'd survived in Lord Mallory's court.  It was when he was in such contemplation that Eve slid beside him, her brown eyes flittering from Bond to Q and then back again.

"You have the look of a cat who's gotten the cream," Eve said as the blush on Q's cheeks went up a notch.  Apparently having a woman 'trip' into his arms, breasts heaving into his chest had done the trick.

"They're gonna tear him apart before M gets here," Alec said, coming from the shadows to join the pair.  "James, this is just cruel."

"You could step in," James shrugged, though he was already pulling himself out of his lounged state against the wall.

"What, and get in the way?" Alec smirked.

Bond weaved through the throng, his presence only noted as he passed.  James reached Q, sliding a hand into the crook of his elbow as he pulled the smaller man close.  Q, who apparently had enough, turned on Bond, ready to ream out the next person who'd dared to lay hands upon him.  Bond felt the energy lace under his hand, saw the fire in Q's eyes.  It died away when recognition and confusion took its place.  James made a mental note in that moment; he'd let this progress too long.

"Enough, now," James said, lacing his words with energy as he wedged himself between the most overly eager of the courtiers and Q.   "Surely, you can see he lacks the stamina to compete against all of your alluring charms."  James let the words come out as a sensual purr, and the effect was instantaneous. He was aware that Q stiffened under his hold, but James was far too focused on projecting his charm upon the throng.  A more than one knee buckled, and several ladies took to fanning themselves briskly, James allowed a seductive smile to curl upon his lip.  Taking the main antagonizing courtier's hand, James did a bow, placing a slow kiss to the woman's knuckles.  "Until later, then," James whispered in a hushed tone, releasing her hand when she gasped, and shot a wink to the women clustered over her shoulder.

When he left, his hand still firmly clutching Q by the arm, it was to the whispered declarations of adoration and several women instantly setting about to inset it was they for whom the secret wink was meant.  Once he had Q somewhat more secluded from the throng, Q found his voice.  Eyes were still watching the pair, but non daring to brave directly approaching the agent.

"That was far too easy," Q huffed, though he had not attempted to break the hold James had kept upon him.  Nor did he try to pull away from the other man.  Q had the impression of being circled by a pack of hungry wolves. "What did you do?" the mage asked, glaring at James accusingly.

"Are you referring to the effects of my charming demeanor?" James asked, half shrugging a shoulder.  "I actually think I'm losing my touch.  Only one swooned."

"A hazard of old age, no doubt," Q huffed.  James' hand shifted down Q's arm, stopping about the younger man's slim wrist as though he meant to release the mage, but he stopped.  James frowned, pulling the wrist up to inspect it, his thumb holding securely across the man's pulse.   To Q's queried stare, James made a 'huh', sound deep in his throat.  "What?" Q asked, blinking as he tried to discern what had drawn the agent's curious attention.

"Hmm," Was all James said, before releasing his grip about Q's wrist.  M and Lord Mallory entered the grand dining hall shortly thereafter, thankfully drawing the gathering to awe at the pair who's finery far outshined the knit garbed mage who had previously enchanted them.  M glanced at Bond, tipping her head slightly in approval when she saw that Q was by his side.  James suddenly hopped she wouldn't get word about the events prior to her Grace's arrival.  It was unlikely she would approve of how ruffled he'd allowed their mage to become.

The guests moved to take their seats, Mallory and M sitting side by side at the head of the U shaped heavy wooden table.  Eve came up to the pair, gently pulling Q away, and leading him to a seat that had been saved upon Mallory's right.  M had her advisor, Tanner, to her left, and the progression of the lords and ladies along the sides.  Eve kept to the shadows after depositing Q, taking to standing with James and Alec who watched as the foreign guests were entertained by their Queen and country men.

"007," Eve said softly under the hum of the dinner party, "don't."

"Don't?" James snorted.  "Don't _what_?  There's a lot of things to which you say don't.  Why don't you give me a list of things I may do.  I'm sure it would be much shorter."

"He's a good lad, 007," Eve murmured under her breath, slipping behind the agent, allowing a hand to caress along James' back until it rested upon his arm.  "Keep your charms to yourself."

"He's a mage, Eve," James sighed, tired of this very worn conversation.  "My charms won't work the same on him as they do upon the others."

"Do you think you only enchant other's through your voice?" Eve shook her head, her dark eyes finding the mage who looked every bit as awkward as his face portrayed, sitting in a seat of honor next to a Lord of the Midlands and just one seat away for the Magi Queen who dominated the wild North.  James said nothing, but he found the hand that had held Q's wrist flex unconsciously.

He relaxed, allowing the nights feast to progress as his mind wandered.  Time would reveal many things, it always did.  Since he was grounded, he'd have plenty of time to unravel the curiosities he was discovering in the young mage.

TBC~

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If only I could update this quickly all the time. Hopefully time permits. More Q and James unraveling to follow.


	3. Playing to the Wind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James tries to make a point.

"I must ask to be excused," Q humbly turned to Mallory, his food barely touched.  The Lord to the Midlands, long used to Q's flighty appetite, held out for a moment before tipping his head to M and whispering something in the woman's ear.  She blinked, and nodded, but said nothing, only tipping her head toward Q in acknowledgement.  Q's departure was noted of course.  However, few paid the man little heed.  The true connoisseur of court gossip were glued to their Queen and the way this foreign lord conversed with their aloof queen with such ease.  Many whispered that the two had either been in long converse, or that, despite their open claims, they had met prior to now.

Q managed to make it out into the hallway several steps before turning back on his heel.  James stood just behind him, his feet easily resting in the other man's shadow.

"007," Q said tersely, frowning as he eyed this shadow's companion.  "If you must know, I'm going for a bath, and then I'm going to bed.  Will that suffice?"

"Are you offering me your bath, or your bed Q?"  James asked earning him a flush that could have put any courtier to shame.

"Is it really necessary that you follow me constantly, 007?" Q said dryly, ignoring the agent's flirtations.  It was a trait that the man had demonstrated numerous times even in their short acquaintance.  That, and arrogance, Q mentally amended.

"You're not calling me James," The agent commented, tilting his head as he tried to read Q.

James was an expert at reading people.  True, he had his blind spots, and occasionally he could make mistakes, but usually he was spot on.  His flirtations with Q were an attempt to get the man to drop his guard.  To get a read on him.  Other than a flush of embarrassment,  a show of ire, or James being disregarded and ignored, James had come away none the wiser as to just what sort of person Q was.  He didn't have a box he could drop the man into.

That was either very annoying, or very intriguing.  He hadn't decided which yet.  Most people succumbed to his charms, and would lay waste any secrets or predilections willingly before begging him to take them in his arms.

Bloody fucking mages, James thought, as he watched the man before him blink several times, before shaking his head.  They were either all this hard to read, or he had come to rely too much on his voice over his observational skills.

"I don't think I have that right," Q said after some thought, responding to James' question.  "I mean to say, I can't give you my name, so it doesn't feel right to use yours."

"As you would have it," James inclined his head taking the lead as he led Q down the hallway.  "However, as I've said, I rather like having my name used.  The more who speak it the better.  There's power in that too, you know?"  Q blinked at James, and the agent could see the cogs in the other man's head turning.

When they reached Q's room, the mage stopped in his doorway, turning back on the agent.  "There's something very off about you.  Something I can't place."

"Don't tell me.  You're going to sit in there all night and contemplate me again, Q?" James asked, leaning in close enough that Q had to back up or risk the man's lips brushing his cheek as he whispered the words into Q's ear.  "Careful, you may be developing a crush."

"Despite what all current evidence seems to suggest, 007, not _everyone_ swoons under your flirtations.  Good night, Agent."  Q said too calmly, closing the door without another word.

James pushed back from the thick wooden door, deciding he needed to have a conversation with M and see if he couldn't wheedle any more information about the man from her.  He had a good excuse after all.  He was suppose to be guarding him, and any information could prove invaluable.  He wouldn't have to tell her that he wanted to vet the man she'd chosen for an apprentice independent of her decision.  If he wasn't a man James could stand behind, then, well, there were ways of making people disappear.  Even magi.  Tomorrow, he decided, if he could steal a moment with her away from their guests he would attempt to glean more information.

"That was just painful!" Came a hissed laugh from the enclave James passed.  He paused, waiting for Alec to join him by his side, before he continued on the path that lead to his own chambers.

"Alec, you have been evaluating my progress with the boy since he got here.  I have to say, while I'm touched about your concern, it really isn't necessary."

"Really?  What's that James?  I can't hear you over all the moaning~ Oh, wait, that's right.  You're here, with me, and not getting a piece of magi tail."

"If I was actually trying to seduce the kid, that would be another matter entirely," James groused, but Alec threw up his hands in frustration.

"That's my point!" The other agent declared, exasperated.  "James, you've lost it.  Your display with the courtiers was passable, at _best_.  Where's the name who could have had every woman, and every man, in that room fighting over him?  Where's the man who would have seduced the pants off that kid within the first hour?"

"I'm getting too old, probably," James humored, taking Q's assertion earlier for his own defense.  Alec bite his tongue until they reached Bond's privet chambers. James offering to pour Alec a drink since it was obvious the man had something he wanted to say and wasn't going to leave him alone till he'd had his fill.  Alec refused, so he poured one for himself.

James' quarters were well lived in.  Books tossed open upon a cluttered desk  A couple parchments were also laid there, either letters of converse or the those that contained scrawled musical verses.  Several weapon were laid out on his dresser next to a jar of oil, a stone, and a rag.   A couple more blades of various designs were resting upon the weapons rack.  His own quarters afforded a receiving area separate from the bedroom.  This was not true for all of M's agents, though James had received the upgrade to his quarters after M had once too many times walked in on him using his bed to entertain various ladies and lords of the court.  James noted that his hearth had been lit, and a fire had already warmed his chambers.  Eve, he thought with a smile.  Alec waited until James had downed his drink, before he broke his silence.

"I'm calling you on your bullshit!" Alec snapped.  James turned his back on his fellow agent, reaching down to the decanter to pour himself another shot.  He really didn't want to get into this with the other man.  Alec surprised James, as he grabbed James by his marked shoulder to force the blond agent into facing him.  The contact shot pain through James' body, arching though his arm and sending a jolt to his heart.  Alec filched when he saw the effect his touch had caused before James was able hid the pain behind his usual cool mask.  Alec relaxed his grip, but he still held James, unwilling to allow the man a chance to turn away.  "I know it's fucked up.  I get that.  This would have broken a lesser man, but not you.  James, I need you out there.  No one can do what you do."

"Tell that to M then," James frowned plucking the other agent's hand off his throbbing shoulder.  He considered Alec as something akin to a friend, but that didn't mean he wouldn't clock the man if he kept this up.  Filling his drink once more, James went over his window.  He turned the drink around in his palm as he examined the violin and bow that laid upon the windowsill. 

"Yeah, sure," Alec scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Eve thinks M isn't going to let you out till that mark goes away."  The shattering of crystal sounded deafening across the room.  James took a hard breath, his body frozen in the poise it had adopted to toss the tumbler against the far wall.  Forcing himself to continue breathing, James attempted to collect himself.  His jaw clenching shut as he unconsciously balled his now empty hands into fists.

"It wasn't my intention to be cursed!" James growled, causing Alec to back away towards the door, hands raised in an unconscious show of supplication.  "M said she can't break it, so Eve must be wrong.  M won't keep me bound in the castle indefinitely just because of this."

James rolled his shoulder, the joint was stiff and did not allowing for the usual full range of motion the agent had held before.

"Maybe, but that's if it was me, or 001, or 003, or any other agent." Alec shook his head, a bitterness edging into his voice that bled away as he continued with his honest assertion.  "M doesn't care for anyone like she cares for you.  She's not going to risk you out there, when half your body isn't set to fight."

"M cares about all the agents," Bond sighed, moving from the entry room into his bedroom.  He collapsed into his bed, a hands crossing his chest to lay over the cursed mark.

"Aye, I know she does," Alec affirmed as he followed as far as the door that divided the two rooms.  He leaned into the doorway, crossing his arms and offering James a small smile.  "You were the youngest she'd ever taken, though.  Tends to make her soft in your respects I think."

"More of a hard ass, too," James grumbled, earning a hearty laugh from Alec.

"That is true.  There are many a day I would not trade places with you, Bond.  You can keep your favored status then, for I've seen how you are also the outlet for her ire."  With a chuckle.  "Though, you often deserve it."

"Debatable," James said, giving a half shrug as he closed his eyes.  Alec stood up straight, taking the cue, and departed without another word, or sound.

~*~

The next several days progressed much how Q had predicted, and feared.  During the day, he would constantly feel the presence of another upon his back.  When he'd call out the agent, James would appear seemingly from nowhere.  He would smile, flirt, and remain visible by Q's side through the rest of the daylight hours.  The days, though infuriating as they were when the agent trailed his shadow, were actually pleasurable once the man had dropped the flirtations and taken to showing or following him around the castle.  The days were not so bad, all things considered.

The nights were another story.

Q sat in his bed, his breath ragged.  His heart beating furiously in his chest as adrenalin coursed through his body.  He had not been afraid of the shadows for some time now.  Here, however, when he lay in his bed he had the impression he was not alone.  M had claimed the eyes in the shadows belonged to her, but Q had not yet managed the courage to tell the woman what he feared; she was wrong.

Shakily, Q slipped his feet from under his covers.  He slipped on a pair of shoes, pulling a knit blanket off the bed as wrapping it over his shoulders and over his nightshirt.  The cold in the north was far more extreme at night, and he could see his breath curl in a frosty cloud as he breathed out.  Q held fast where he stood, scanning the room in light offered by the soft glowing embers in his hearth.  He did not see an agent of M in the room, but he cleared his throat, afraid of what he would sound like with the fear still coursing through his body.

"007?" Q asked into the dark.  Unlike in the daylight hours, the older man's humored baritone did not respond.  Nothing but the soft howling of the wind outside answered the young magi.  "Right, of course. Get a grip, Q."  The mage tried to shake away the fear, but knew it wouldn't matter.  He wouldn't be sleeping again tonight.

Taking leave of his quarters, Q headed out to the library.

He had taken a shine to books once Lord Mallory had seen to giving him an education in the written word.  Q loved to read.  The world could fall away from him when he fell into books.  It didn't matter what the content was.  He absorbed anything and everything that someone had taken the time to transcribe.  Mallory had seen to providing him tutors at first as well in the various subjects.  However, within a few years, they'd all been let go.  There was nothing left they could offer the young man.  With a full education, one that Q always tried to expand, the young magi still loved to lose himself in the written word.

Nights when he could not sleep for fear of what lay behind the lids of his eyes were no exception.  He found M's library easily.  He had taken to visiting it in the daylight hours many times.  As he opened the doors to the library, Q was struck with how beautiful the room was in the moonlight.  The far wall held tall, arching windows that came to their peak in the form of a singular, circular panel that looked to be designed to hold the moon as it sat in the sky.  Silvery light reflected off the metallic inks used on the spines of many of the tomes.  Maybe, if the night was cloudy, he would have felt the need to light a candle.  As it was, Q slid easily into the room and began his search for a book to devour.

He was running a finger along several spines, pulling one of the tomes free, when the sound of the wind caught his attention.  He blinked several times, realizing that it wasn't just the sound of the wind he was hearing.  Taking to the overlook, the sound grew louder.  Opening the door, entering the cold of the night, Q pulled his makeshift cloak of a blanket about himself with one hand, the other still clutching his selected tome.  The soft, intermittent tune stopped once the sound of the doors hinges made his presence known.  Coming over to the railings, Q looked down to find a pair of curious blue eyes staring up at him from the familiar sharp featured, tanned face.

"Q, are you alright?" Came the worried question from James as he shifted so he could stand.  Q stepped back from the railing as James easily leapt over the stone divide.  James was wholly focused on the overly pale man before him, but Q's eyes fell upon the violin and bow that James held in one hand.  Q's brown eyes went wide for a moment as he realized what it was that had bothered the magi about the shadow agent.

"You're a bard!" Q hissed at James, incredulity in his voice.  James sighed, holding up a hand in supplication as he tried to hide the instrument behind his back.

"Now, Q, that's correct, but-"

"By the stars! That explains quite a bit actually.  I really couldn't see why people were _literally_ falling all around you just because you spoke to them," Q ran a finger over his lip in contemplation, a self satisfied grin curling his lips as though he'd managed to work out the intricate problem that was James Bond.

It could have been the smile, the cocky grin the man held, or the assumption that his only way to drawn in a person was due to a bard's training.  Maybe it was all of those things, but whatever it was, it made Bond's jaw clenched tight.  He was upon Q before the younger man realized what was happening. One moment the newly discovered bard was holding up a hand to calm the mage, and the next his blue eyes became cold as ice, the hand that was held between them reached out, and pushed his fingers into Q sternum.  Q was walked back until he was pressed up against the glass panels that divided the overlook from the library, too shocked at the change in James to contemplate what was happening.  He'd only ever seen those eyes calculating, or warmed with humor.  Never cold.  The words of warning his lord had given him a few days before rang in his ears.  _Watch your shadow_.

The fingers pressed against Q's sternum as he was held in place slid up along the front of his nightshirt, a finger tips sliding just enough under the buttons that held the fabric together so the tip of a nail slid along the man's skin.  The book Q had pulled from the library fell from his hands, forgotten as a shiver passed through his chest and along his body.  James was so close, Q could feel the heat of the man as he pressed near.  Through the whole of the exchange though, James held his stoic expression, but his eyes were burning as he slid his fingers up along Q's collar.  The magi shivered once more, the tease of touch eliciting a strange reaction from him.  James had him held in place with but a look and the tip of a finger.  Other than that, though he crowed the younger man, he didn't touch Q.

"Q," James breathed out the man's offered name, his voice a deep rumble in his throat.  Q felt the heat climbing into his face, the flush causing the bite of the wind against this skin to feel as pin pricks.  The agent's finger released Q's collar, dropping to run along his arm, and pausing as he gently held the man's wrist.  Q swallowed, unable to speak as he stared up into those cold blue eyes which suddenly softened as they looked at him.

Heart beating so loudly in his ears, Q almost didn't hear what James said next. "M trained me as a bard.  How to use charms through my voice."  Q blinked as the bard released him, stepping away.  The cool of the night felt frigid when James moved away, his eyes turned down to the instrument in his hand.  "It has more uses then just seduction, of course.  Best when paired with a tune, but it's hardly practical to go playing a song in the middle of a battle, or when you're trying to sneak through shadows.  It does help, though, when you can disarm someone, or get them to reveal information on command."

"R-right," Q managed to get out, clearing his throat as he tried to regain some composure.  Inwardly he was trying to work out what in the nine hells had just happened as he reached down to reclaim the tome that'd slipped from his grasp.  He kept his gaze on James, sidestepping so he could keep an eye on the man as he made his way back toward the entrance back into the library.  "Well, thank you for the demonstration.  It was very...  educational."

James watched the man flee, before rolling his shoulder, wincing slightly at the pain as he braced his favored instrument against the cursed limb.  Carefully, he slid the bow along the strings.  As his left hand tried to reverberate a cord, but he had to release the note.  Grimacing as he once more dislodged the instrument from the crook of his chin, James took in a breath of the cold air.  He breathed it out slowly, switching the violin to his other hand as he tried to flex his fingers.  The tremble in his hand was visible.  The cool of the night helped to ease the burning of the pain the mark caused, but it also kept his notes from sounding throughout the castle.  There was no way M to relinquish him of his guardianship of the magi, not if she heard the broken sounds coming from the strings as he tried to play.

"Fuck this curse," James spat, pulling the instrument back up to his chin as he steeled himself against the pain as he played.  His fingers trembled, the tune taking on a life of its own as he drew the bow quickly across the strings.  James was stiff, letting the pain flow through his arm and into the instrument as he played.

The tune was broken, angry, and hallow.  James hated it even as he played for the wind.  Hated himself as well.  What was he thinking?  He was suppose to protecting the insufferable magi, not assaulting him.  He knew what came over him, it was quiet simple.  Pride.  He wanted to prove a point to the young man, and when he'd succeeded, he'd at least had the sense to not demolish the man on the spot.

Charms did not work on those with mental training to resist them, or those who were naturally gifted against such things.  Magi were unaffected by the charms of a bard's voice.  A fact that, as James had guessed, Q was apparently ignorant of.  Not really a surprise considering how rare a magi trained bard was in their age.  He had meant to inform the man of that little fact; to let him know that he could indeed seduce without the use of tricks.  However, just as he'd held the man's wrist, felt the elevated heart rate, and saw the dilated pupils that stared back into his, he couldn't do it.  Even through the shock, fear, and arousal that filled the magi's eyes, there was another emotion which undid Bond.  Trust.  Q didn't fight against him, didn't resist even though he was uncomfortable and scared, because for some reason he trusted him.  It made no sense.

"Damn it," James sighed.  Relinquishing the cradled instrument from his shoulder, he decided to head back into castle.  He'd had his fill of playing through pain for one night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this isn't an exact take on bards. Then again, the magi aren't typical mages either. The use of charms are not considered magic here. A laymen can use charms if taught. Also, anyone with mental fortifications or discipline can resist them. As stated, Magi are naturally immune. The charms are harder to resist if carried on a tune. That's just a bit of sum up of what was already addressed in the chapters. I promise every aspect will be explained in the work itself and not just as a notation.


	4. Seeing into Shadow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> M and Bond reach a compromise.

"Come on out, 007," Q said dryly as he held the black coal against the tanned paper.  He refused to let any relief bleed into his voice.  Instead, he focused on the scene before him.

Miss Moneypenny had given him a drawing board and a slew of parchment this morning along with a small collection of coals.  The woman had offered him her becoming smile, explaining the gift as one born out of discourse she'd overheard between his lord and M.  He smiled at her, accepting the gift and had gone out to the evergreen gardens M had shown them on their first day.

Seated upon a bench, Q found a particularly interesting, twisted holly to which a crimson colored bird had laid claim, and began to sketch.  He hadn't felt eyes upon his back the whole morning.  In fact, it was nearing mid afternoon and he had yet to sense his shadow companion.  He had pondered their last parting, their interaction the night prior.  So, yes, the unbearable 'bard' was correct.  Q did tend to think on the man when his mind was left to wander.  Not that he would ever stroke the man's ego and openly admit to it.  007, James Bond, had wedged himself into Q's mind and it was becoming impossible to dislodge him.

When he discovered the man to be a bard, he had thought he'd discovered what had made the man stick like a thorn in his thoughts.  The problem, however, did not appear to be solved.  He'd uncovered why James was so becoming, other than just his physique, as impressive as it was.  Again, not something he'd ever admit!  There'd be no living with him if he did.  Yet the thorn was still there. If he could, he would pluck the thing, the problem of James Bond, and toss it into the sea.  Still, he'd not managed to pin down why he kept thinking of the shadow agent.  There was something about his eyes.  It had struck Q from the moment he'd first seen the man.  His lord had seen something too, calling the man a killer.  That wasn't what Q saw.  There was something that felt so familiar when she stared into those distant, blue eyes.  Like looking upon a reflection through bit of frozen glass.

When he'd finally taken to leave his quarters, another sleepless night gone by, it was with the knowledge that he was alone.  In one way, he had been relieved.  However, as the day progressed, he'd actually begun to worry.  When he finally did feel the familiar pin pricks against the back of his neck, he tried to suppressed the smile and relief that flooded through him when he called out to the agent.

"You're not sleeping," M's voice made Q's heart jump, as he stood up, holding the drawing board and coal against his chest.

"Majesty," Q did a slight bow, as the woman all but floated over to his side.  She held out a hand, and with a small hesitation, Q handed over his drawing.

"Sit, Q." M directed as she examined the picture.  Q did as he was bade, the board handed back to him as she pulled out a new parchment, laying it over the landscape picture he'd taken to.  "You have a skilled hand.  I would like you to draw me a picture," she said as she took a seat beside him on the stone bench.

"It would be an honor, Your Grace," Q fidgeted, setting the board across his lap, coal held between thumb and forefinger.  "Any request in particular?"

"I want you to depict what you see in when you close your eyes at night."

Q froze, the coal pressed unmoving into the paper.  "Majesty, I don't think-"

"Q, do this for me." M directed, her tone hard.  Q cleared his throat, his hand shaking slightly as he flipped the coal to its side, and began to pull it vigorously across the paper.  It didn't take long for Q to depict a scene, one of the more recent ones that had plagued him.  He hesitated over the more disturbing parts, but drew them out efficiently and accurately.  They'd sat in silence, M's eyes focused out on the garden as he worked.  When he'd finished, he handed the completed picture over to M.  She accepted it, nodding as she rose to leave.

"You already know what I see," Q said softly over his shoulder, his palm and fingers stained black with coal.

"Yes," M replied, before leaving the garden and a confused magi in her wake.

~*~

"Agh! I yield.  I yield!"  James growled out in frustration, tossing the young guard off to the side of the circular training ring.  Spinning his short sword and dagger in his hands, James stretched out his left shoulder, pulling to loosen the stiff muscles that knotted and burned under his sleeveless leather tunic.

"Right, who's next?" The guard captain bellowed out to the green recruits.  The fear was palpable across the newly admitted guards.

"Begging your pardon, Sir," one of the braver, or more stupid, guards raised their hand.  The young lad had a mop of chestnut hair and deep brown eyes.  He didn't look like Q, not really, but James found himself seeing the magi in the young guard.  His jaw click shut, when he found himself imagining there were a pair of thick glasses on that face.  Bond's blades took another not so idle turn in his hands.  "It's not quiet fair, is it?  A shadow agent, against us?  We haven't got a chance in the nine hells!  Besides, it's Bond!"

"Reynolds," James called over to the guard captain over his shoulder, "I think we have the next volunteer."  The lad gave a yelp as a sword was forced into his shaking hand by Reynolds.  The guard captain gave a short, barked laugh, and slapped a hand upon the young recruit's back.  The slap across his shoulders was enough to knock him stumbling into the training circle.

The grin that crossed James' face was predatory as he slipped forward, coming under the recruit.  He disarmed the man, though it wasn't much of a chore given that the man seemed to toss the weapon to the ground.  That only made James knock his knee into the man's gut even harder then he'd first intended.  The recruit, who's name James didn't bother to catch, fell forward, the wind knocked out of him.  Before he could fall, James used his fist, over his hilt, as he knocked the shocked face across his right eye.  If Alec were there, he'd have called him on pulling his punch.  Alec wasn't there though.  Making up for not using his hilt, James' other hand flipped his dagger, blade pointed away from the young man as he knocked the kid in the kidney.  It was a crumpling mess that fell to the ground at his feet.

"Y-yield," The boy moaned, gripping his hands around his gut as he rolled upon the ground.

"No yields, you tossed your weapon!  Don't bother denying it.  Get up!" Reynolds barked, kicking a dusted patch of snow and dirt at the boy.

"Sir, please!" Two of the recruits came forward, pulling the chestnut haired man away.  "This is pointless.  All we're doing is getting trounced.  There's no point in putting us against an agent!"

"What do you think will happen to you out there, when you toss your weapon?" James asked with barely concealed contempt.  He did not bothering to spar his last opponent a glance as he was hauled away.  "Forget for one moment about yourself.  You tossed your weapon.  You're dead.  Think of that man there, standing next to you," James nodded at the recruit who stood next to the guard who had pleaded with the guard captain.  "How far have his odds just fallen?  How about the next man?  What of your families?  People you love.  There is no _yield_ out there."

"Which is why we train here," M's cool voice called out over the training yard.  The guards fell instantly upon their knee, their heads bowed.  "Where when you yield, you are spared," M descended the stone stairs that lead down to the open yard, her eyes falling on Bond with the last statement.  Her white dress flowed about her as she held a tanned paper rolled in her hands.  She came to stand among them, a figure of pristine glimmering white in the center of an open training yard covered in dirt, traces of blood, and snow.  Bond didn't kneel with the rest, his breathing was sharp, and he tried to control the ragged edge to it.  He sheathed his weapons though, giving the woman a stiff, mid-waist bow.

"My queen." Bond said, his eyes upon the woman, but more specifically what she held in her delicate hands.

"007 is right," M said, turning her gaze back upon the young recruits who had started to steal glances at the magnanimous leader.  Their heads dipped again quickly as he steely blue eyes fell upon them.  "While he may lack a gentle touch, the lesson is no less important.  Nor should you overlook it.  007 is a specialized, trained agent.  He takes on the Dark directly, this is true.  Obviously none of you are his equal.  Yet.  However, you _must_ be the equal of anything out there.  You know our enemy.  You are no idle observers.  You are my guardsmen.  I entrust each of you with the safety of our people, myself, and the very men who are kneeling beside you now.  I even entrust you with the safety of my agents."  M gave a nod at James, her expression stoic but her eyes glistening with that unearthly light.

"We are honored to serve, my Queen!" Reynolds shouted, slamming a large fist to his chest even as he kept his gaze to the ground.

"The honor is mine.  Now, if you would all be so good as to relinquish your training tutor, I must steal away 007."  The sigh of relief that passed through the recruits was tangible.  M tilted her head to the side, and 007 huffed as he took to the side of the ring, pulling up his towel and dropping it over his shoulder.  He had barely broken a sweat, but it wasn't for the exercise, but from forcing the use of his shoulder.

"Alec?" James asked as soon as they'd cleared earshot of the recruits who'd begun to spar amongst themselves.

"As you know, I've sent Alec out on a recon," M said, taking the agent through a back gate that lead into a small courtyard that held the queen's atrium.  She led him into the glass and iron lined building.  The sound of birds singing drowned out the men training the next quad over.  The glass magnified the sun, making the atrium double as a greenery.  The seeds M had collected from faraway lands, several that Bond himself had collected, grew in heartily in the atrium.

"I did not come to discuss Alec with you," M said, handing the parchment over to James.  Bond accepted the parchment, giving her a curious look as he opened it.  He looked down at the coal drawing in his hands, and his face pinched.

"Skyfall." M said, her eyes hard as ice.

"Where did you get this?" James asked, containing the urge to rip the picture and the scene to pieces.  Upon the parchment was a distinct area that lay deep within the Dark lands.    He'd only ever seen it from a distance when he'd tracked a shadow back across their boarder.  It was the Dark's seat of power; the area where the heavens met the earth and all fell away into nothing.  The tallest peak in the Dark lands, Skyfall.  It stood above all others, and as it pierced the sky it was split in two by an enormous crag.

The shadows in the depiction bore distinct shapes.  Ungainly forms, all walking towards the broken peak.  Being dragged behind one several of the shadow creatures, were the small, vague depictions of children.  Some were slumped, but at least one was clawing into the dirt, their small face distorted in a silent scream.

"It's what lay's behind our young magi's eyes," M said, her eyes focused on Bond's expression.  James tried to control the flinch that took him upon her comment, but it hit the corner of his eyes and he knew she'd seen it.  "When I said he was a Far Seer, what exactly did you think that meant, Bond?  Had I not explained that particular gift to you before?"

"I assumed it would be like any other spell," James admitted, his eyes taking in the sharp lines of the child who was trying to desperately claw their way free.  "That he would need to cast.  Like you do."

"He's gifted, or cursed, Bond.  He doesn't need to cast to see into the Dark.  It's always there." M's finger tapped against the parchment.  "I admit, though," M sighed, her shoulders showing an invisible weight, "I did not know his sight would go that deep.  I fear, this is my fault," M said closing her eyes and taking a breath.  "When I first found him, it was during a cast of Far Sight, to find 003, in the shadows.  He had gone silent in the Midlands."

"That's how you knew of Q," James said, realization dawning on him.  "I had wondered about your greeting with him.  How long have you known him?  Is he the reason you promised yourself to the Lord Mallory?  Because Q was his ward?"

"Oh, it's not so intricate as all that," M said, shaking her head.  "No, we've needed support for some time now.  I've never raised an army, because I've never been keen on brute strength.  In hindsight, that may have been a mistake.  One the Dark has been exploiting.  We can't patrol everywhere.  The Midlanders are a good, hardy people.  Plus, they breed like rabbits," M's eyes glistened at James who gave a half hearted smile, his eyes constantly being drawn back to the picture in his hands.  "A formal alliance sealed by marriage with the Midlands was always a sound resolution to our problems.  Given how things have grown worse over the last few years?  It was the inevitability of it all, I suppose."

_'It's a bit melancholy, don't you think? The inevitability of it all, I suppose.'_

James found himself drawn back to his first conversation with Q, and the way the man had stared out at the mountains and the shadows that lay just across their borders.

"Bond?" M's eyes were watching him closely, trying to find something there, but for the life of him, James had no idea what she was looking for.

"This is happening now?" James asked, changing topics as he gestured to the image in his hands.

"No, not at this very moment at least.  This has already happened," M said, taking back the picture, and carefully rolling it up.  "Recently, I assume.  Before he only ever passed through the Dark that had reached out into the Midlands.  However I have no doubt that this is something he's seen since coming to us.  It appears with his proximity to the boarders of the Dark greatly reduced, he has been slipping into the shadows at night, falling deep into their lands."

"This can't be safe," James stated, gesturing to the paper she held.  His eyes focused on M for a moment as he scrutinized the woman before him.  "Did you know this would happen?"

"I suspected it would be a benefit to us, yes, to have a Far Seer so able to slip into the shadows, but I didn't expect his gift to be quiet so...  strong.  I miscalculated." M held her head up high pushing her shoulders back as she looked up to the tall agent.  "Which is why protection of him is all the more imperative.  I'll increasing the castle's defensive wards over the next moon.  I'll need the moon full to complete the stronger casts.  Until then, I want you to stay by him.  Allow others to take over helping the guards.  At night, I can get Miss Eve to assist in keeping watch."

"No," James said flatly, his lips pulling down in a tight frown.  "There's a reason she's no longer an agent, or have you forgotten?"

"I don't 'forget' 007, but necessity has placed us in a precarious position.  Activity has gone up.  The towns of Frostfall and Windle have been assaulted when the sun falls.  Not just killings.  They've been abducting the young..." Both M and James eyes fell to the paper she held rolled in her grasp.  "All other agents are out on assingment," M said with a sigh.

"There is no point in hiding here then, M.  We were never one for waiting for the Dark to grow bold enough to attack.  Send me out M, let me do what I do best."

"If I thought you having a threesome with some of the courtiers would do any good James I'd let you have at it."

"Let me fight.  I can push them back.  Letting them gain an open path into the towns will only weaken us further."

"James you can't," M said.  When he twisted his face to protest, M stabbed a finger into James' shoulder.  The man stumbled back, the jolt of pain racing from his arm and back into his heart again.  "Besides, I fear for Q.  He's still undisciplined.  He's Far Seeing is opening paths into shadow.  With him slipping in and out of the Dark as he is, he's wearing thin my defenses.  The Dark may well gain a foothold here, in the castle, before I've finished applying the extra wards."

"Probably wasn't wise to bring him here then, was it?!" James hissed, though he knew she had no choice in the matter.  Once a Magi found their apprentice, they were enthralled.  M was bound to Q.  The need to protect him would be primal instinct for her.  If he would have been safe in the Midlands then she would have left him there.  She probably had for some time, given what she'd said before, but James knew that the shadows were making their way into the Midlands with more force than they had in ages. 

"Well I'm not a Seer, Bond.  I couldn't predict this."

"We have our answer then," James said, coming to stand to attention.  "The low towns need help, and Q shouldn't stay in one place for too long, not if he's opening paths in shadows.  Especially if he could open one here.  After you've built up the defenses, by the next moon, that may be different."

"Bond you can't seriously be suggesting what I think you are," M said, though her tone didn't sound all that surprised.

"Sure, why not?  You said we need him to fight the Dark, right?  Well, let's _use_ him to fight the Dark."

"He's not an agent Bond," M eyed James in a manner he'd come to recognize.  It was the look she gave whenever she'd somehow talked him into doing whatever it was she wanted without actually asking him to do it.

"Yes, M, I'll take him with me."

"Ah, that's better I guess.  You've been getting very cagy," M said, her eyes falling again to his covered mark. "However, you still are not fully healed.  Q will help, but I think I'll send Miss Moneypenny along with you.  On this point I will not waver.  If the three of you can't handle taking out a few footholds in the valley, I should be very much embarrassed to call any of you an agent or Q my apprentice."

TBC~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know there was no direct Bond and Q interaction in this chapter. They'll have much more in the next.


	5. Windle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> James, Eve, and Q face the shades of Windle.

"This is silly.  Truly," Q grumbled.  "I don't see why I couldn't have my own horse.  It's illogical to head into combat without a mount for each of us.  Your mount will be slower with our combined weight.  That could prove fatal."  The black horse under the magi shook his white mane with a snort. The powerful stallion gave lunge, his legs giving to a slightly faster trot.

"He didn't mean it Sleipnir," Bond soothed the beast, running a hand over the horse's neck.  Sleipnir shorted again, rattling his rains and reluctantly returning to his slower trot.

"Are you still on about having to piggy behind 007, Q?" Eve laughed, her brown and white patched Gypsy Horse trotted elegantly to come beside Bond's black stallion.

"I can ride.  On my own.  I crossed half of the Midlands and near all of the Northlands riding my own horse."  Q frowned at the woman who smiled prettily at him.  Eve's angelic face seemed odd when paired with the black leathers, and the thick, black ebon bow that she held across her back.  Beautiful and deadly.  The combination suited her.

"Yes, but your horses are still recovering from your journey.  They are also not suited to our lands, or the shadows." James sighed, not bothering to look back at the man who had his arms wrapped around his waist.  "As we've said, M's horses are very particular.  Until they decide that they like you, they won't let you mount them.  Just deal with it Q."

"Then why can't I ride with Eve?  It would make much more sense.  We'd weigh less then you and I if I was upon her mount."

"No, Q.  Mina doesn't let anyone but me ride her," Eve hummed with a glint of light dancing across her eyes.  Her horse, Mina, did a turnabout, shaking it's thick feathery mane in concurrence.

"Q, you know, if you keep this up, Sleipnir is libel to buck you," Bond warned, causing the magi's grip to unconsciously tighten about the shadow agent.  Q remained silent for the next leg of the journey, but Bond could feel the worried frown pressed into his shoulder as Q leaned into him.  "You're worried about your Lord?"  Bond asked, and the way the man went rigid behind him told him he was right.

"He was very upset," Q mumbled.

"Yes, well, M made the right choice.  You'll be safer on the move until she can fortify the castle wards.  Taking out the shadow paths that have formed in the villages are just to keep us from getting bored." Bond grinned happily back at Q.  The long suffering face behind him caused Bond to sigh in aggravation.  "They had a small row, that's it!"

"M was about to shock him!" Q snapped.

"He barged into her apothecary.   He yelled at her!  Stars above, he'd be lucky if that's all he did," James returned.

"Boys, please!  Your Mommy and Daddy will be fine _without_ the two you arguing over them," Eve said, earning her identical deathly glares from the men riding beside her. "Maybe you should be focusing on preparing the our magi for what we're about to encounter?" Eve prompted.

"I've see shadow wraiths before," Q murmured.  James kept his movements fluid so as not to stiffen upon the magi's admission.  Q didn't know he had seen the coal sketched depiction of his nightmares.  He wasn't fool enough to tell Q that he saw what kept the magi up at night.

"Have you seen an Einar?" Eve asked, her face a mask of calm as she glanced over at the magi.  When Q didn't speak, Eve assumed he had not.  James knew better, but he couldn't say as much.  "They're pale of skin, and dark of hair," Eve started to explain, unnecessarily to the magi who had depicted an Einar dragging away a child.  "Unlike the shadow wraiths and other specters of the Dark, The Einar look like a man, but they are not.  Sometimes, at night when the reach of the Dark is at its peak, a spector or wraith can manage to find their way from the Dark, through shadow, and into our lands.  They open a path from the Dark, right onto our door step.  However, if they don't make it back across the path they opened before the next sun's rise, the portal will close and they become stuck here.  They go on hiding in shadows and tormenting our people."

"The Einar are different," Eve continued as the town of Windle fell into view over the sloping valley.  "Einar are shadows given life and flesh.  Being part shadow themselves, they can breathe a piece of their own essence into the a path between the Dark and us.  It enforces the opening, making it a foothold. As long as the Einar remains near enough to their portal, their essence will remain and keep the entrance to the Dark lands open even through the rising light of the sun.  It also then leaves the way open for all manner of foul beasts to follow.  If we only run into a wraith, or some such specter, we can we can kill them and thus close the way into the Dark come sun up.  Chances are it's just a few specters that we'll find in the towns.  They're dangerous, but not as deadly as wraiths."

"If we run into an Einar?" Q asked.

"You don't go near it," Bond stated flatly.  Q frowned mouth open to protest when Eve cut him off.

"He's right, Q.  I trust your magic for fighting against the creatures of the Dark, but Einar are far more deadly."

"You said they look like man.  How would you even know if we came across a Einar?" Q asked quirking his eye at Eve.

"They tend to leave a trail of bodies in their wake," James said, rolling out his shoulder again.

"They're born of the shadows, Q.  When you see one, you'll know."

The trio made it into Windle by mid-noon.  The streets were cleared, save for a patrol captain, two guards, and the small town's mayor.  James dismounted and greeted the mayor and the captain in turn.

"Shadow Agents of her Majesty," The portly mayor gave a gracious bow, "I am Mayor Thomas and this is my Captain, Luscious.  We are ever so pleased that you have come!  The guards have been trying to handle things, but, well..."

"You try fighting shadow with iron!" the guard captain, Luscious, hissed.  "Sorry, Sirs, and Lady," The guard apologized.  "But we haven't much silver laced weapons here."

"The queen outfitted each town with plenty of silver laced swords, daggers and bolts to last the first cold.  Even if you are out of the bolts, pray, how did you lose all of your swords?" Eve asked, leaning over her horse.  Mina snorted in agreement.

"They were nicked!" one of the guards put in, earning a backhand from the guard captain.

"I think a thief was wise of the shipment," Luscious admitted.  "It wasn't even unpacked before it was cleared out of our barrack's weapon's stores."

"You never bothered to inform the castle of this?" James asked, earning stunned looks from all about them.

"Begging your pardon," Mayor Thomas input, "we _did_ notify the castle.  Many times.  I was set to go up personally before the second cold fell, but then we got word from the queen that she was sending out her best agent, well.  Here you are!" The mayor grinned broadly at the two.

~*~

Their coats were gathered at the door by a servant who bowed and greeted them welcome to the mayor's manor.  Once their coats were off, the head of staff declared, rather astonished, Eve to be a woman.  She paused, looking over Eve with a curious eye before stating that something was wrong with their arrangements, and she would see to setting it straight.  The distraught servant then took a taking a hasty flight from the magi and the agents.  The young servant who greeted them blushed, and lead them up a flight of stairs, taking them into the prepared guest rooms.

"What do you think it means?" Eve asked James as they dropped their packs in the mayor's guest room.

The lodging was nothing compared to M's castle's accommodations, or Mallory's, but Q found them to be very comfortable.  Then again, Q still remembered what it was like living on his own, sleeping outside, or hiding in barn or stable when he could.  The magi ran his fingers over the soft extra set of blankets upon a chest for their bedding, Q found himself smiling at the kindness.  There were two beds, end chests, and warm burning fire to greet them.

"I think, that we find the shadow creature that's been making a path in and out of this town, and kill it."  James said, dropping down upon the bed.  "Once it's dead, it won't be able to reopen the way to the Dark and then we press on to Frostfall.  See how things go, and keep a move on killing shades until the full moon has passed."

"Are you planning on napping?" Eve asked, coming to stand over the horizontally reclined bard, crossing her arms.

"We need rest before the sun falls, Eve.  Take a rest," Bond directed, gesturing to the bed that sat just off the side of his own.

"And, as there are but two beds, where will Q be resting his pretty little head?" Eve asked, earning a wicked grin from James and a snort from Q.

"Begging your pardon, Miss," A maid entered the room, bowing quickly.  "Apologies about the delay, but we didn't know there would be a lady in the party." The maid hesitated, her eyes falling on Eve's ebon bow.  "We've prepared a separate room for you, Mistress."

"Well, there you have it," James sighed, rolling over, and closing his eyes.

"We need to also inform M of the thievery of the silver lined weapons," Even nodded the last, offering a not-so-apologetic smile at Q before leaving the room.

"Try to get some sleep, Q.  We have a long night ahead of us." James murmured, his back turned to the magi as the agent's breathing slowed.

"I can't sleep on command," Q groused under his breath.  Sitting upon his bed, the magi toed off his boots and laid his head back upon the pillow.  "Unless that was a charm." He amended as an afterthought.

"By the stars!" James quipped, a sigh of long sufferance, "Look here, Q-  Never mind.  You will need rest.  Please, I do not want you so tired you trip over your feet when we face whatever lays out there tonight."  Q said nothing, eyes fixed upon the ceiling, as a frown pulled at his lips.  He realized that Bond was keeping something from him, that was obvious, but what?  His usually quick mind slowed to a crawl, his brows knitting together in thought.  "I can hear your brooding from here, Q.  Just try to relax."  There was a sleepy yawn, the sound of scratching of nails against a chest as James added the last comment smugly.

Q attempted to relax, but his mind was active again, and once it took off there was no reining it in.  This also meant it would not give him peace.  He waited for what felt like near forever in the warm silence of the mayor's guest room, replaying the events of the day, the day before, until he was regressing back into his life in the Midlands.

Eventually, James' breath had evened out, the agent sleeping silently in his bed.  Taking the moment as soon as it presented itself, Q slowly sat up and fit back on his boots.  Quietly, the magi crept from the room.  The door gave a slight creek as he opened it.  Q turned an eye over his should to see if James were still resting, and the man had not appeared to shift in the slightest.  Taking a breath, Q left the room.

He made his way through the manor without anyone questioning him.  Maybe no one questioned agents?  He wasn't one, but they needn't know that.

Ever since he had been taken in by Lord Mallory, Q had been under escort or his comings and goings needed to be cleared with his Lord.  He appreciated what Mallory had done for him, all of it, but he could be overbearing in his protectiveness of Q.  The fact that there had been an attempt on his life did nothing to ease his Lord's protective nature.  He had dared to entertain that Mallory might relent some once they were under the Magi Queen's protection.

 A hope that had not lasted long after meeting the Queen.

A servant rushed to his side, helping him put on the thick coat Mallory had insisted Q take with him.  Q still donned his usual knit sweater under the thick leather and fur lined coat, but one could hardly tell under the thick coat.  It was harder to smell the spices of Eleanor's home under the tanned and oiled black leather and fur, but Q noted it was still there.

Eleanor had cared for Q before Mallory had taken him in.  Even now, he found he missed her.  He missed the warm fire of her oven and the spices that filled the air when she baked.  If ever Q had felt like he had a home, it was when he had been with the old woman.  She held a place in his heart that was all her own.  One that no one else would ever fill.  Unlike Mallory, she hadn't seen to lock him up or follow him about.  A disapproving frown, a smile, and Q's heart was bound to follow the woman's directions.  In some ways, Q wanted to see a bit of the older woman he'd grown to care for in M, but that was hardly the case.  Though they may have been similar in physical age, M was a creature all to herself.  One point being that it appeared his Lord's bride shared in an overbearing need to see to his safety.  The feeling of being watched wasn't something Q was unaccustomed to by this point, though usually the person watching him wasn't ghosting him from shadows.

Q watched as a child with ragged clothing ran past, his knit cap flapping as the youth turned a sharp blue eye his way.  Q, sidestepped the child, aware of his pockets as the thin framed boy passed.  That was him, he thought, not too long ago. 

He wasn't ungrateful for all the luxuries his Lord had granted him.  He knew, though, that this wasn't living.  This was surviving, moving from one extreme of the pendulum to the other.  For all of Q's great mental abilities, he had yet to come up with a reason to continue with just surviving.  The world offered him a few rarely glimpses into it's beauty.  Eleanor had been one such treasure.  Was it enough though?  He didn't know if the glimpses of kindness and love outweighed the cruel, dark, and ugly things that trespassed so easily under the folds of night.

The young man had long ago learned he could slip into the shadows in his dreams.  At night, it seemed not only the creatures from the Dark preyed upon man, for they also feed upon each other.

Q made his way around the town, picking up stones along the way.  He stopped several times, dropping to one knee as he traced his finger into patterns on the side of the roadway, before he pressed on.  The towns folk took note of him enough to get out of his way, but not enough to directly look at him.  Apparently the town was used to seeing agents, Q thought.  That, or they had heard stories of them.  Stopping by a stable, Q knelt again, this time he had used several of the stones he'd picked up along the road, dropping them into a small pattern off to the side of the stable.  He spent the next few hours like that, walking, stopping, picking up stones, putting them down.  It wasn't until the sun was drawing low that Q made his way back to the manor.

Just as he reached for the door, a harsh voice called to him from over his shoulder.  Q looked over to find Eve, fully geared and armed, staring at him.  In her hand she held a thick coat.  Coming into view from around the manor's gate was the familiar owner of the voice that had called to him.

"Next time you decide you can't sleep, just say so.  If I knew you were going to be out the rest of the sodding day, I'd have taken care to grab my coat." James grumbled, taking his coat from Eve's offered hand, and throwing it over his shoulders, spinning dramatically away from Q and Eve to head back into the street.

"You really need to let us know these things, Q." Eve admonished as Bond made a gruff sound in his throat as the three made their way into the darkening street that was being vacated as quickly as the light was departing the sky.  "Though don't let him get to you," Eve whispered as she came to stand beside the magi.  "He's just a little bit frozen.  He'll be fine once he warms up."

"Why did he walk around without his coat?" Q asked though Eve gave him a knowing glare.

"Because the man he's suppose to be guarding went on an unannounced stroll?"

"You could have just told me you were going to come with me," Q called over to Bond who was leading them out into the city streets.  Q and Eve took strides to catch up with irritated Bond.  The short, blond haired man gave a snort, as though he thought the idea was ludicrous.  "Really, I would have been happy to have waited for you to follow me about if it meant you were properly attired."

"If I did that, then I wouldn't have had the chance to gauge  you when you believe yourself unobserved," James returned though his attention was on the streets and shadows about them, not on the conversation.

Q's pace faltered, as his mind quickly ripping apart the exchange, the evening, and all it implied.  He had always known when the agent had been observing him.  He had always thought that was strange.  M called James her best agent, yet he had always known when James was near.  That would hardly seem fitting of the rumors that flooded around in regards to the shadow agents.  However, though there had been many eyes that avoided him, he had no sense that he was being observed or followed.

 "You do it on purpose," Q accused, running again a short distance to catch up with Bond.  "In the castle, all those times before."

"More specific, please," James sighed, sparing a look back over his shoulder to Moneypenny.  "He's getting about as bad as you.  Don't speaking in vague riddles, Q.  Not all of us are able to dissect them."

"I always knew when you were around before!" Q snapped, crossing his arms about his chest, and trying not to give the impression he was throwing a tantrum.  He wasn't, not really.  Who likes being played a fool, after all?

"Of course I did," James said, though he never spared another look at the young magi.  "It would have been rude to have done otherwise."

"Boys, please focus on the task at hand," Eve hissed, pulling her bow off her shoulder with one hand and grasping a silver tipped arrow with the other.  "The sun sets."

James pulled out his sword and dagger, spinning the blades in his hands as he scanned the now empty streets around them.  They were silent for a time, their eyes falling to the area about them.

"Well, Q," James said, even as his eyes flicked from shadow to shadow.  James was like a cat ready to pounce, Q thought, and only just managed to hide a snicker behind a cough.  James gave him a curious glance, gesturing out into the darkened streets about them.  "This would be the part where you come in I believe.  You are able to see where they are, correct?"

"Right," Q said, and sat down upon the street.  Folding his legs under himself, Q reached into his pocket and pulled out a white stone.  Flicking it up in the air, he breathed out a murmur under his breath.  The words were lost the moment they passed his lips, but the stone glowed as he captured it back into his open palm.

Eve spun from her observation on the magi, a sound of skittering drawing her attention to a far building.  The wall about its side was filled with a dark shadow, and Eve began to raise her bow.

"They're playing with you," Q said, his eyes closed as he caressed the stone in his palm.  "Don't follow it, Eve." Q stated with authority as he placed the stone against the ground, covering it's light with his palm.

"We are here to fight them Q," Eve said, though she held her position.  "Not look pretty for them."

"A moment please," Q demanded, his eyes shifting about behind closed lids.  James spared him a glance, just as the magi shifted, pointing a finger to his left.  "Two streets down, make a left, then two houses before an inn.  There's a cellar door.  Hurry!"

"Stay with him!" James ordered Eve as he took off.

"007!" Q called, tossing the stone though the air.  James spun, flipping his dagger into his belt and catching the token in one smooth motion.  "Keep it close," Q instructed.  James shot Q a quick look, before shoving the stone into the inner breast pocket of his vest.  With that their bard was gone, dagger back in hand, before Q could speak another word.

"Alright, Q," Eve called, her bow string pulled taunt as she leveled an arrow with a pair of glinting red eyes that stared back at her.  "I think you got their attention.  You need to take cover," Eve called behind her as a creature of black, the shape of a cat, or a large lizard, climbed down the side of the home where it had rooted itself.  Q scoffed, drawing a symbol into the cold, frozen earth.  The road's permafrost parted below Q's touch like the soft earth of the Midlands.  His energy melting the soil as he poured his magic into the symbol below his touch.

Eve shot the arrow at the creature which dodged, slinking to the side as the agent pulled another arrow and flew just over its long, pointed black ears.  The beast hissed, long fangs glimmered as ivory against the moonlight.  Eve held her bow to the side, reaching a hand under her coat and pulling out a curved dagger.  She crouched low to the ground, bracing herself for the creature as it too curled up, preparing to lunge.

The two clashed together, Eve gripping under the creatures throat as its tail wrapped around her arm.  Red eyes burned as it screeched, snapping it's fangs and ripping it's talons against her bracers.  Eve hissed as a swipe of the creatures claws found a chink between her bracers and armor, digging into her forearm.  Biting through the pain, Eve shoved the dagger into the shade creature's chest.  It howled, thrashing and clawing all the more.  When it fell, a disintegrating bit of shadow upon the road, it's death was greeted with two echoed calls from around them.

Eve sheathed her blade and, in the same fluid motion, brought her bow and arrow to bear once more.  Her eyes searched all about them, focusing on any shift in the dark.  "Q, I asked you to take cover!"

"I'm working," Q said evenly, his breath a soft hum of words that flowed into the night.

Two more pairs of eyes glinted in the dark.  One emerging from an ally near Eve's right, the other jumping down from the roof two houses ahead of her on her left.

"Q.  Really, I can't keep my eye on you."  Eve held her shot, waiting for the creature's to pounce.  She could take one out while it hung mid air.  She didn't know about the second, but she was knew she could manage if she didn't need to fear for the man behind her.

"Oh, no," Q said, still with his back to the danger Eve faced.

"Yeah, exactly." Eve breathed as the shade's attacked.  She shot out at one, but missed as it spun midflight.  Cursing, Eve spun on her heel, knocking back one creature with her bow as she drew her bald with a swift motion.  She slashed at the second shad, who passed over her blade.  It landed between her and the magi who was still murmuring under his breath.

"Q!" Eve yelled, charging the shade that had turned it's attentions onto the magi.  The shade took note of the charge, jumping back several times till it landed upon the building's wall next to where they stood.  Perched vertically, defying any sense of gravity, the beast hissed at them.  Behind her Eve saw the other shade shaking off the blow she'd landed to his skull.  They were surrounded on either side now, and Eve didn't know if she could keep Q safe upon the next assault.

"You need to do as I say," Q said calmly, breaking into Eve's hitched breathing. "I need you to trust me.  Close your eyes."

"Q-"

"Now!" Q sounded off, and Eve felt the sweat drip down her nose, as she pushed her eyes closed.  Even behind lids pressed closed, Eve could hear the creatures shriek as a white light pushed against the dark of her closed lids.

~*~

The cellar Q had described was that of the inn of the Glimmering Lady.  There lay a locked outer entrance to the cellar, which James wasted no time in destroying.  Even as he descended into the shadowed cellar, he could feel the cold shift in the air.  It was amongst the barrels and hanging slabs of smoked ham that he saw his query.  A figure of tattered black robes, flowing about a tall, awkward figure.  The unnatural winds that took about the shaded figure exposed the lack of feet of the black robed creature, exposing it for what it was.  The wraith floated gracefully as it held a woman in its clutches.  It's gray, corpse like hands held her by the neck and waist, it's black shadowed face bent over her as though in a lover's kiss.  The woman was opened mouth, a shimmer of light flittering deep from within her throat and into the dark hidden under the cowled wraith.

"Think you've had enough," James said, causing the wraith to snap his attention over to the agent.  "I always wondered, what would lay beneath that cowl.  No matter how many of your kind's heads I cleave, I never gain a glimpse before you fall away into the nothing where you came from."

The wraith rose to the bait, predictably.  This was not the first wraith he'd drawn away from another by using the deaths of their brethren to incite the shade creature's ire.  The wraiths, oh, the wraiths fell into ire like a drunk into ale.  The wraith screeched, it's cowled and shadowed face obscured forever in the dark as it drew it's arms wide, dropping the woman who crumpled unconscious upon the ground.

James charged the creature, a flash of silver blades in the dark, lantern lit cellar.  The wraith spun, striking out with a boned hand with ebon talons that elongated as the shadow wraith slashed out against the agent.  Bond dropped to the ground, ducking the talons and sliced up with his silver laced sword.  The beast howled, it's black robes spinning about as it flew up to the ceiling.

James looked up as the wraith stared down from his perch against the ceiling.  James was thus laying upon his back as the wraith threw itself down on the agent.  James rolled to his side, avoiding the talons that stuck into the earthen cellar floor.  The wrath spun about in the air, switching angle instantly, and striking faster than any mortal man.  James couldn't dodge this attack, though he managed to deflect with his dagger.  The clash against the force of the wraith jarred James, wrenching against the marked shoulder.

James cried out, kicking out at the seemingly shapeless shadow.  James knew the wraith held form.  They all did.  The shadows that bled from them obfuscated the truth.  It was only a matter of knowing where to strike.  The creature flew back, knocked against the far wall as it howled out in anger.

 _'You need to do as I say,_ ' Q's voice emanated near James.  For a moment he pondered at how Q was speaking into his head, but within the next second he knew the sound was coming from his vest.  James tossed a dagger at the stunned wraith, stabbing the silver blade through the creature's robes, and locking it in place, if but for a moment.  In that moment he pulled out the white stone, it burned hot in his hand.  He dropped the thing, the sizzling of his flesh melding with the sound of Q's voice.  _'I need you to trust me. Close your eyes._ '  The wraith screeched out, grasping the dagger and yanking it free.  The scorching of the wraith's hand upon James hilt stopped as it dropping the poisonous blade.  The wraith flew upon him in that moment, long talons raised and prepared to attack.

 _'Now_!'  James braced his sword as he held it raised in defense, pinching his eyes closed even as he cursed Q's impromptu command under his breath.  Light flooded even against his closed lids.

 _'The flash is gone.  They'll be stunned for a few yet.  Right, well agents, you better get to it,_ ' Q's voice faded away with the light.  James could have groaned at the impetuous of orders, but his lips were too busy pulling into a smirk.  With a lung, leaning all of his strength into the thrust, James drove the blade deep into the frozen, cowering wraith.

James emerged from the cellar several moments later.  He stifled a groan as he carried his half numb body onto Windle's streets.  To his surprise, the streets were no longer empty.  Heads poked out of doorways, eyes peering through windows.  Several of the more brave were attempting to transverse out into the dark.  Making his way back to the road where he'd left Eve and Q, he came upon Eve breathing heavily, a dagger holding the a shadow fade's blood even as it evaporating into the night's air.

"Three shades for me.  That's a fair bit.  Didn't see the other two at first, they'd hidden off the side of us," Eve said, standing tall.  James could tell that she was obviously gauging the way he was unable to lift his shoulder.

"Wraith," James said, not bothering to hide the fact that his shoulder had given out.  He could handle appearing damaged after facing a wraith, since most never survived combat against the life draining creature.

"What was that?" Eve asked turning to look at Q.  The magi took a moment to pull himself up, waving a hand dismissively toward the agent's question.

"Nothing special.  A trick I learned long ago."  Q frowned, wavering lightly on his feet.  Eve was by his side in an instant, pressing a hand to Q's shoulder to stabilize him.  "I'm fine." Q said when both agents came to his side, each pressing a hand onto his shoulders to stabilize him.  He took in their overly concerned looks, and attempted to roll his eyes.

"Don't look fine," James said.

"You're one to talk!" Q snorted.

"Yeah, but M would kill us if anything happened to you," Eve said running a cursory hand over the magi to make sure he hadn't taken any damage in the fight.

"It was just a bit more draining then I anticipated," Q said, rubbing a hand over his face and under the frames of his glasses.

"All those piles of stones you made around Windle earlier," James said, stepping back and looking around again at the now very awake townsfolk.  "Did you light up the whole town?"

"Yeah," Q said, shaking his head.

"Well, you should do that more often!" Eve smiled, patting the man's shoulder.

"Probably not," James said, observing the magi who couldn't stop rubbing his eyes, nor appear to stand up straight.

"It's sort of a one off," Q said.  "They capture the sun," He explained, gesturing to a pile of stones that lay in a strange symbol upon the ground just off the roadway.  "I can release it, but I can't specify which set," Q said, reaching into his pocket and dropping several white stones to the ground before kicking them away.  "Depletes them as well."

"And you," James said, earning a frown from magi.

"Yes, well, it was a bit of a large and wide scale cast.  If you must know, no, it wasn't easy.  It helped you out though, did it not?" Q asked.

"Your idea could probably use some refinement," James said, tossing the white stone token he'd received from Q back to the road from which it had been plucked.  "Why not just give us each one of these?"

"That would be an idea," Q grumbled, his voice lowering as a few of the braver town's folk began to draw closer, "if my only intention was to save you lot.  I can only find them.  I can't predict where they will strike."

Eve drew Q close, whispering soft words of endearment while taking the magi back toward the mayor's home.  James watched the two go, unable to pry his eyes off the younger man.  Q had extended his protection over the whole of the town.  A counter measure against the unforeseen.  James shook his head, cradling his fallen left arm in his right, he moved to follow his comrades.  He may yet be lacking a category in which to drop the magi, but he was learning more about the man.  Easy to observe was the magi's prickly demeanor, sharp eye, and obstinate personality.  However, given the magi's last confessed action, James could easily see the man cared more than his disposition proposed.

If he was honest, it wasn't just for the sake of Q beings M's apprentice he wanted to gain the measure of the man.  On a personal level he had a desire to see Q  revealed as an not just an honorable, but a good man.  Why that would be he couldn't say.  However, it seemed that under his coarse exterior, the magi had a kind heart. That thought made James smile softly as he entered into Mayor Thomas' home behind his fellow shadow agent who was dotting upon their exhausted magi.

TBC~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A bit of expo for how the Dark opens ways into other lands. More Q background, and combat writing. I always end up writing combat when I'm trying to write a romance. The party will head for Frostfall next, and things will obviously get much worse. Much thanks for all the Kudos and comments! Apologies on this being un-beta'ed.


	6. Just a Ring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had this just lying around, so, update(?) I read through the chapter and re-edited it. Apologies, I obviously didn't proof read that when I first finished it. Due to the number of errors it was also probably a work of insomnia :/ It's a better now, again sorry.  
> Q can't sleep, and James dreams.

Q eyed the drink pushed his way suspiciously.  He had just downed his glass, and the bar maid was already upon him, pouring more ale into his now empty cup.  He grimaced, feeling a little bit like he was floating, no, swimming.

"You alright there, Love?" Eve hummed, knocking back another drink.

"Our patron's generosity is a bit overwhelming," Q managed to get out without slurring his speech _too_ much.  The magi leveled, or tried to level, a glare at the bard who sat beside him.  James winked at the woman who had answered his call to refill their drinks with such efficiency.  He nodded at Q, knocking his mug into Q's in toast.

"The generosity of the good folk of Windle should be appreciated," Bond hummed, turning his gaze to offer a seductive smile to three women who were giggling off in the corner of the tavern of the Glimmering Lady.  "Things don't always go this well, Q.  Celebrate the victories where you can."

"I don't believe in such things," Q grumbled, taking a sip of his drink.

"I celebrating?  Don't be such a downer, Q," Eve hummed, laying down her hand of cards.  She cheered, taking the pot of coins off the table.  Several of the guards and some patrons had started the game, though of their guests only Eve had a desire to play.  That could have been because the woman was a shark and was taking them for all they were worth.

Q said nothing, instead running a finger around the rim of his ale filled glass.  Q's breath came out in glittering flecks of frost, a murmur of words, and the glass under his fingers frosted over.  The magi had frozen the ale in his mug solid.  James caught the act that had gone unnoticed by the gambling enthused patrons who eyes were focused either on Eve's game, or upon James' body.  The bard sighed, setting down his drink and shooting the women he'd been encouraging a small, apologetic smile.

"Alright hero ours," James said, patting the magi upon the shoulder gently hooking his other arm under the crook of Q's armpit to raise the man to his feet.  "I can see it's past your bed time."  Q made a face, but it fell as his eyes fluttered.  James wasn't surprised the drink had caused the magi to nearly pass out.  He hadn't been sleeping for days now.  James had hoped the warm liquid he'd been nearly forcing down the magi's throat would be enough to entice the magi into sleeping like the dead.  His success would come at the cost of a, actually turns out three, companions for his bed this night, but it was nothing he couldn't shoulder in good spirit.  There would be other nights.  "You good Eve?"

"Yes.  I'll be along shortly.  After a few more games.  Right boys?" Eve asked the table of guardsmen who cheered, and groaned, at her continuance in the game.

James took Q out into the now calm streets of Whindle.  Q didn't fight being supported. In fact his feet were giving way even as the agent carefully led the man back to their rooms in the Mayor's home.  The Mayor, and the town, had insisted the trio stay for a celebration in their honor.  James acquiesced easily. Though not because of the reason's Q had accused him after he accepted.  Though free drinks, food, and company would be a bonus, James didn't want to admit to the magi he wasn't comfortable taking Q back out on the road just yet.  It was obvious the man was running on less then fumes.  Ale could offer him the sleep that had thus far been escaping the magi's grasp.  A few days to recuperate could be forgiven if it meant Q was functioning.

The agent got them into the manor with a knock on the door.  A servant girl answered, helping him take Q's coat before James pulled the man upstairs.  As gently as he could, which wasn't much given the way his shoulder throbbed, James deposited the younger man upon the second bed in the room.  Q hummed, his eyes remaining closed throughout the whole of the experience.  James eyed the man, shaking his head as he moved to undo the straps of Q's boots.  Gently pulling off one boot, then the other, James was offered a murmured sound of appreciation from Q's throat.

Bond stood over Q as man shifted upon the bed, his glasses pressing up against the pillow and skewing across his face.  If it weren't for the fact that James was developing a fondness for the magi then he wouldn't go to such pains for his comfort.  He could admit he was drawn to the magi. The attraction was not only due of their forced proximity, but the magi challenged him.  Due to his notoriety as a trained killer, that was a rare thing. Most either wanted to cower from him, or bed him.  Q, though he obviously was unaware of his physical reaction to Bond, didn't express either trait.  It was somewhere between frustrating and intriguing for Bond.

James reached down, plucking the thick lenses from Q's face.  He set them down upon the nightstand near the bed, taking in the pale complexion of the dark brown, wavy haired man.  He reached down, his fingers stopping short of brushing several unruly strands from Q's closed eyes.  Not because he didn't want to, nor did he believe Q would be aware of the act, but because of a glint of silver chain peeked out above the collar of Q's sweater.  The magi was breathing deeply, his chest rising softly as James dropped his fingers down to the shining metal about his neck.  A soft tug, and the chain pulled free of the knit sweater revealing a tarnished, worn, ring that held a black onyx wrapped in its setting.

James breath caught in his throat as he slipped the chain up and off of the sleeping man's neck.  Pressing the ring between his fingers, Bond examined it closely, still not believing what he held.  It was exactly the same as the one he had carried all those years ago.  James gripped the ring and chain in his fist, fighting off the urge to throttle the sleeping man before him.

Q, oblivious to the change in James hummed under his breath, or purred, as he snuggled into the pillow below his head.  James shook his head as he watched Q.  After a moment of watching the magi, James was able to relax his face from the distraught expression that had captured it.  Q was the picture of peace, and, though James wanted answers, he could wait.  Maybe there was a simple explanation.  There had to be.  James returned to Q's side, pulling a blanket from the chest near the foot of the bed, and pulling it over the magi's form.

Taking to his own bed, holding the chain in his hand, James tried to fight back the thoughts that plagued him at the discovery of the ring upon Q's neck.  It didn't make any sense.

~*~

"007!"  James turned to face Silva.  The white haired, black cowled man was much younger then when James had last seen his senior agent.  This was wrong.  He knew it, but at the same time it wasn't.

The two agents, geared up in the black leathers of M's shadows' were perched precariously in a second story window of a crumbling, ruin keep.  Skyfall sat just behind them.  The cursed peak rose, piercing the sky in the distance.  It was easily visible even through the misting shadows of the Dark Lands.  Even in the Dark though, the stars still held power.  There's was the only light that filtered into the darkness and made the land transversable for the agents who could not seen in the dark as well as the natives of the land.  Silva, hunkering down just to James' left, gave a soft chuckle as they viewed the carnage that played out below them.  James had never seen so many Einar in one location.  They were in the process of slaughtering each other though, so maybe this was why?  Did they only know how to kill, so they never congregated?  Such a cursed boon they held against their enemy.

The near iridescent skin of the Einar glimmered under the light of the stars as they fell against each other.  Ebon weapons slashed, blots cracking across armor and piercing that illuminated pale flesh.  Who was winning?  James had no clue.  Their recon mission into the Dark was to observe the ruins, but they could not have predicted this.  From what James could tell, there were at least two groups, maybe three, but it was the sounds of their combat that had drawn the shadow agents into the ruins.

James felt himself running his thumb over the ring on his right hand, a nervous twitch he'd adopted whenever he worried the older agent had finally brought him too far into the Dark Lands.  The action was becoming more and more prevalent as of late.  The ring was their final option in event of capture, or torture.  M's power couldn't pierce into the Dark Lands, so she gifted them with this; their final recourse.  A way of ending it.

Silva motioned for James, drawing the younger agent from his thoughts.  Silva signaled for James to stay while he went to move to gain closer access the combat below.  He reached toward Silva, but the agent was gone before he could try to draw the other man back.  James bite his tongue against the curse that desired to follow his comrade.

His blue eyes scanned into the misting black that was the battle below, trying to define where the other agent had gone.  It was when he was searching the shadows for his friend that he found something else there that caught his breath in his throat.  Slowly, James began to work his way down along the wall of the ruin.  In his head, he knew this was suicide, and the ring about his finger seemed to grow unnaturally heavy with the weight of that knowledge.

One Einar was bad enough, but a whole pack of them slitting each other's throats?  He clenched his fist as he made his way down, slinking along a pillar before dropping and rolling off to the side to hide within the pitch black shadows.  Though he wouldn't be invisible to human eyes Einar were creatures of the dark. It was almost as though he was hiding in broad daylight amongst the shadow kin.  Keeping low, he used the crumbled ruins to block himself from the sight of the Einar who were, thankfully, far too engaged with each other to pay attention to any interloper.

He slid up along the back of the room where a chain was wrapped around the base of a large, fallen pillar.  In the shackle attached to that chain, was the ankle of a small, crumpled form of a child.  The kid's head held long, dark waves that fell forward over a face that was bent down into knees pulled tightly against a form garbed in a ragged, patched clothed shorts, tunic, and vest.  The kid must have been no more than eight, if that.  He wasn't sure why a child would be here, not in the middle of all of this.  The Einar must have forgotten about the kid when they'd gone to the business of killing each other.  Small favors.

James had not yet spotted Silva, though he knew the other agent would be alright.  He was always alright.  When he drew near, the kid's head snapped from the huddled ball that was braced against the broken stone pillar around which he had been bound.  James made a motion with his hands, bringing a finger up to his mouth, a charmed, 'hush' leaving his lips.  A dirty face framed by long dark tresses that held deep brown eyes stared at him curiously, but the child did not speak.  Slipping across the open distance that divided them, James came to rest next to the kid, his back also pressing against the broken pillar.

James took a pick from under his gauntlet, and set to the lock about the shackle that held the child's bloodied and chaffed ankle.  The lock fell away under his practiced fingers, and the child looked down at the leg as though he had no idea what had just happened.  An explosion rocketed the ruin, a spell maybe, causing large bits of debris to fall from the stone walls.  James pulled the child into his chest, rolling them away from a bit of stone mural that crashed over where they'd been hidden.  James held the kid, a small, thin thing against his chest as the world around them quaked.  As the shifting subsided, both of them were trying, and failing, to suppress coughing at the churned up dust that floated around them.  Their efforts were in vain.   James knew the moment one of the Einar had turned to look their way. 

"Habuerunt!  Et dimida genus est furari!" One of the Einar gave a howled scream, stabbing a saber in his direction.  James cursed as at least three of the Einar broke away for their conflict to head for them.  The human agent picked up the child in his arms as he dashed from their encroaching Einar warriors

"Damn!" James hissed as he shot through the first corridor and into a group of Einar who were rushing, apparently, to join the fight that he'd just left.  James had never seen an Einar hold any expression other then rage, or malicious glee, but this day was just full of surprises.  The small troupe of the moon-kissed skin toned creatures all stared at him utterly dumbfounded.  James dug into a pouch at his belt, breaking the round powered casings in his hand as he smash two gas bombs together before tossing them at the troupe.  With one hand under the kid's body, James took his hand and covered the child's mouth and nose, pressing the small face as close to his chest as he could and pushed into the smoke.  The Einar, while they may have been able to shift through shadow, still shared the human need to breath.  The troupe coughed and gagged as James dashed between blindly swinging weapons and grasping hands.  Spinning on his heel, he dodged the last hand that reached for them, and broke through the gray mist of the paralyzing gas bomb.  Once free her released his hand from over the child's mouth.

Even as he rounded a corridor off the first tunnel, James saw the shadows shift ahead.  A long, rune marked scythe's blade pressed out of the portal at the same time that a thick leather boot stepped into the hallway.  James skidded to a halt, his body trying to tip forward under the sudden attempt at reversal.  Spinning again, this time to his other side, James turned an made a bolt in the other direct.  He hadn't scouted these halls, and the knowledge that he may be running deeper into the earth, into more Einar, was not lost on him.  The child made a desperate, throaty, sound as they rounded the next bend.  The kid tugged, struggling in James' grasp, a hand gesturing off to a black hallway that lay off to their right.  Bond could literally feel the chill that came from where the kid pointed, and his legs refused to move him further in that direction.

The kid shoved against James, wriggling down the agent and landing at his feet.  Small fingers captured his, pulling him towards the cold, dark passage.  James cursed the gods, the stars, and the shadows as he scooped the child up again, and, for some insane reason he couldn't fathom, he ran into the passage.  It wasn't far into the shadows that they came upon a thick, iron, door.  James pushed into it with his back, keeping the kid close as pushed the door open. The agent found himself standing in a large, circular room.  In its center was a raised daises' with what looked to resemble a magi's alter.  He only had some clue of it's nature because he had often spent time with M when she prepared a spell.

The dark haired kid pushed our of James' arms again, and ran over to the altar.  Small hands reached over the stone edge, working around objects until coming away with a bowl.  Brown eyes looked at the bowl with trepidation, filtering once over to James in question.  The door behind James lurched, the kid screamed in fright even as the agent tossed his shoulder back into the door.  Fighting back against the assault, James pressed his weight into the iron door.  As he struggled to keep the door closed, he saw a bolt to his right.  Reaching over, James grasped the heavy lock and dragged it against the door.  Stepping away from the door quickly, James tried to pinpoint a place of egress.  To his not so astonished horror, there were no obvious exits from this room.  Thin legs stumbled toward him, nearly giving out under the tattered shorts and vest that the kid wore.  A small hand grasped his, pulling James across the room to stand before one of the ink black ponds that lay about the room's edge.  Bond realized idly that there were many of these little, stone and rune lined black pools.

Dingy, shaking fingers dug into the bowl, pulling out a bright purple power, and held it up towards James.  He shook his hand at James, another terrified sound escaping the kid's throat. When the agent didn't respond, he shoved the powder into James hand. dragging the man over to the closest pool.

He tugged on James' hand pulling him down as held his other small hand over the agent's heart.  James eyed the child curiously even as the door behind them was bending under the force of their pursuers.  Small fingers patted against the agent's tunic, pressing against James heart before lifting to tap the agent gently against his temple.

"Think.  Where lives your heart?" The child spoke in a stilted, off kilter tone.  James stared at the kid, unsure of what to make of the strange directions, or the powder he held in his hands.  "I know not...  Where to sit.  No- heart.  Now, gone,"  The child's face pinched, unable to express whatever it was that was trying to cross the tongue that darted between dry lips.  The kid's voice sounded like it hadn't been used in some time.  Another sound, the sound of the door caving made the two unlikely companions share an identical look dread.  James knew what would follow.  There was no way he could take on a band of Einar.  Still, even as he contemplated using M's ring, the kid grasped James by the hand, holding it over the pool and prying the agents fingers open.  The second the powder his the pool, black mist rose up, and James was being pulled into the dark depths.

~*~

James awoke the next morning to an empty room.

He tossed back the blankets, looking around the room before pulling on his boots and a vest over his tunic.  The dream put him in a bad mood.  It had been a long time since he'd dreamt about that day, and he preferred it that way.  He knew why had instantly, and wasn't surprised as to what had lead to the dream.

The cause was not laying in bed near his.

A quick perusal of the manor revealed James' query to him.  Q was by the servant's entrance to the kitchen, his soft voice in parlay with another, high tenor.

"Will this work?" The child, a boy, James saw as he moved into the hallway.  The kid didn't notice him, his big, green eyes focused in excitement upon the magi who held his back to the agent.  Q seemed to shift uncomfortably.  The magi was dressed in one of his tan, knit sweaters.  His long, thin frame, folding as he kneeled down in front of the child.  He reached down to the space between them, and James could see the child's expression break into an amazed grin.  The boy reached down, grasping something off the ground, and expressed a deep thanks to the magi before bolting away.

James took the chain he had held in his hand through the night, pulled it taunt and snapped the tarnished silvery strand of metal before making his presence known.

Q rose as he turned, startling when he realized he'd had an audience. "Ah, 007," Q said, rubbing a hand through his thick, brown curls.  "Good morning."

"Good Morning, Q," James smiled pleasantly as he held up the broken chain and ring into the open space of the kitchen that lay between them.  "You dropped this last night." James said, his eyes watching as Q gasped, his hand grasping about his neck in search of what was not there.

"T-thank you," Q breathed out a sigh of relief.  He reached out his long, slender fingers to grasp the object just as James yanked it out of his reach.  "Hey?!  That my property, 007!" Q scowled.

"Did M give this to you?" James asked, still trying to feign casualness, but his temper was winning out.

"That's really none of your business, 007," Q snapped, ignoring the cold glare of James' eyes and grasping the silver chain that dangled free of Bond's grasp.  James other hand came around grabbing Q's wrist in a near vice like grip.

"It very much is my business.  Do you have _any_ idea what this is?!" James hiss, and in that moment Q stilled as he seemed to register there was a very angry, very deadly, man glaring at him with barely kept in rage.

"It's a ring.  It's just a ring, 007," Q said calmly.   He didn't back away, and he didn't release his hand from the chain that held the ring, but his words were no longer the challenging dry wit that they normally were when he addressed the agent. 

There were staring each other down, and to what end, Q hadn't the faintest clue.


	7. Ambushed

"It's death, Q," James said, earning a curious blink from the younger man.  "It's one of M's gifts.  She makes them for her agents.  Well, she used to.  Did she make this for you?"  James asked, his face placid, his voice calm once more, but it wouldn't take a genius to realize that he was anything but.  Q's brow pinched, several options filtering through his head.  How would he explain it?  He debated lying to the agent, even came up with several scenarios that he thought could be plausible, but in the end he sighed.  Turning his head to the side, Q murmured under his breath.

"It wasn't given to me by M.  I got it a long time ago.  It was given to me by someone when I was a kid," Q turned his brown eyes up to James, a frown pulling at his lips as he held out his hand.  "I don't expect you to understand, 007, but I don't have many things that belong to me.  I may be the Ward of Lord Mallory, but I came from nothing.  What I have is barely enough to count on one hand.  You're holding the first thing I've ever had of my own.  So, no, I don't know about it being 'death', but it's never hurt me.  I didn't know it was a ring M made, I'll take your word on that.  Nor did I know that it was made for her agents.  I guess that makes sense," Q shook his head, trying to stay on topic, "but for me that's neither here nor there.  I've held that as my most precious possession for most of my life.  I'd like it back."

"Sure," Bond said, but just as Q breathed a sigh of relief he added, "just tell me how you managed to make it from the Dark to the Midlands.  For a kid, that's an incredibly long journey."  Q froze, all blood draining from his face as he looked at James.  His eyes were wide and the agent could see the fight or flight response taking hold of the young magi.  The air in the room chilled a couple of degrees as Bond made a mental note of how many different ways he could incapacitate the man without killing him.

Hopefully it didn't come to that.

"Relax, Q," James murmured with a frost glistening breath.  "I'm just curious.  After all, I left you out in the plains of the Dark. I'd thought you were dead all this time."  Q's face distorted into a look of confusion and then stupid surprise as everything finally caught up with his adrenalin filled mind.  His jaw dropped as he pointed an accusing finger at Bond.

"It's you!  You're the one~  You left me!"  James didn't step away as Q pushed into his space, jabbing a finger at the agent's chest.  "I was terrified. Perused, afraid for my life, and you just left me alone!  You never came back for it." Q snapped, his eyes darting to the ring in James' hand.  James remembered it all too well.

They'd landed outside the runes.  Skyfall and the stars were visible as they fell out of a shadow in the Planes of the Dark.  Bond had turned back to go after Silva.  He couldn't take the kid with him.  He had pushed the boy down under an outcropping of jagged rocks.  He had asked him to hide.  When the kid had panicked, James floundered.  He was sure then that the boy didn't speak the common tongue and he had no clue as to what language, if any, he did speak.  It was the weight of the ring that brought the idea into his mind.  Grasping the ring off his finger, he had pushed the gem into the kid's hand.

"I'll be back," James had said, to the confused, dirty face that scrunched up as it examined the gem, before looking back curiously to Bond.  "You hang onto that for me."  James had said, patting the kid on the head before heading back to the ruins.  The boy, Q, had no way of knowing that he'd just given him his 'plan B'.  He wouldn't fail.  He couldn't, not now, because he'd removed that option.

However, he did fail.  

He couldn't save Silva, and it was only via Eve and Alec dragging his nearly dead body from the Dark that he was even alive to harbor all the regrets of that day.

"I waited, and waited even as~  Do you have any idea what that was like?!" Q's voice drew Bond back into the present.

"No, but I am asking," Bond hummed, cocking his head to the side as a flush covered the younger man's cheeks just under the rim of his glasses.  The magi was looking at James' chest, hand, neck, but he apparently couldn't look the agent in the eyes.

"How long have you known?" Q finally asked, his gaze settling for the floor as being the most interesting thing in the room.  "That I was~"

"I didn't know it was you," James said, silently omitting the part where he'd long stopped thinking about the kid he'd abandoned in the Dark Lands.  There were a lot of things that happened that day he'd spent years trying to forget.

"I thought you'd died," The magi grumbled in agitation.

"Should have.  Almost did," James shrugged as he reached down, pulling one of Q's hands up to accept the broken chain and ring into the magi's palm.  "You've taken very good care of it." James said, trying to catch the younger man's gaze.  Q simple snorted, rolling his eyes, but keeping them set upon anywhere that wasn't James Bond.  "Please continue to do so," James said as he closed Q's fingers over the onyx ring.

"It's not mine.  Not if you're alive," James noted how Q's blush was working it's way down his neck and disappearing under the collar of his ridiculously pedestrian sweater.  James had to stop himself from instinctively reaching forward to take the magi's face and forcing the man finally look at him.  It wouldn't end there, because even now he found himself staring at Q's lips and the tongue that darted out nervously to wet them.   Instead, James ran his hand over his own face, trying to rub out the itch in his mind that wanted to find out just how far that blush traveled below the hem of Q's sweater.

M would kill him.

~*~

Q watched as the dark clad man slipped out of the kitchen, a murmured curse under his breath as he mentioned the need to track down Eve.  Q was silently cursing his own fate.

It had been well over ten years since he last saw his 'hero'.  Part of him thought he had dreamed him up.  Dreamed all of it.  It was the ring that always abolished these notions.  A physical reminder that he wasn't deluded or half mad as a child.  Even after he had managed to flee the Dark, when things were at there worst, he'd always find himself holding that tarnished band and thinking of ice blue eyes.  Always half expecting the man who'd disappeared from his life as quickly as he had appeared to return.  Fantasy, really.  

When he'd read one of his instructors paper novels he found himself reading a tale not unlike his own.  Save that he wasn't a princess, and his mysterious savior was no knight.  No, the knight saved his lady from the wicked Magi and they eventually lived happily ever after.  Q's 'Knight' shoved him under a rock, forced a dark gemmed ring into his palm and took off.  Okay, so maybe he shouldn't have been able to relate to the flowery love story, but he did.  

Q always somehow knew he would meet his dark clad knight once more.  As time went on and the years passed, Q still felt they would meet again.  He'd just assume it would be after he'd passed into death.  

Q took a breath and focused on trying to control the telling heat that apparently refused to dissipate from his face.  Bad enough the bard had the ability to charm him stupid, which for someone of Q's intelligence was saying a lot, but now he knew him to be the man he had idolized since he was a child?

"I'm done for," Q bemoaned as he braced himself to face the agent again.

Eve had set to securing their supplies early in the morning so they could leave and head toward the next troubled town on their list.  The boy he'd helped earlier spotted him in search of his comrades, and directed him towards the manor's front gates.  Q squared his shoulders when he finally located the two agents.  Stars forbid if Bond had said anything to Eve, he didn't know what he'd do.  No, really, he had no idea.  That notion made the man stop dead just sort of his party.  Q didn't tell people of his past, because honestly he didn't know it.  His earliest memories were of living in the Dark.  Given that the Dark represented everything that terrified the average man, that wasn't a fact he chose to avow.  Ever.  Q had over half a mind to turn on his heel away from the agents when Eve spotted him, waving him over.  Sighing, Q stepped toward the two deadly agents with trepidation.

"So you're the boy?" Eve grinned, eyes wide with glee as she reached out and slapped Q on the arm.  The magi flinched, shooting a glance to Bond who only shrugged.  "When this wank finally woke," Eve gestured to Bond with a pointing thumb over her leather pauldron, "he was all sorts of delirious.  We didn't know what to make of half of what he said, but he always insisted there was a kid.  I must say, I'm sorry we didn't believe him, but you know how crazy that sounds?" Eve batted her lashes, her pretty dark brow pinching just slightly in thought.  "Hey, how did you get there?  Do you remember?  Did they take you from your parents?  Goodness, that's so awful!" Eve prattled on, encroaching even farther into Q's personal space and wrapping her arms around the man in an unasked for comforting hug.  "Do you remember your parents?  We could always try to find them."

"No," Q snapped, breaking away from the hold Eve had about him.  "No, sorry, I didn't mean to~" Q coughed into his hand, trying to loosen the cords in his throat that felt stretched taunt.  "No, I don't remember them.  Not where they came from, or anything like that," The magi fidgeted with the hem of his sweater's sleeve, his eyes down cast.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Love!" Eve breathed out, her hands coming to clasp over the nervously moving fingers of the younger man.  "I didn't mean~  We don't have anyone either." She nodded at James who was wearing a blank mask when Eve pulled him into the conversation.  "I don't remember my parents either.  All of M's agents, we're all orphans.  M took us in.  So, I guess in a way it's rather appropriate,"  She hummed, offering Q a secretive smile.  "You're one of us now, then, aren't you?  One of our patchwork little family."

"Me?" Q brown eyes blinked several times as he looked from Eve to James.  "I mean, I just never thought about...  I, uh, don't know,"  Q bit his lip, trying to draw back some semblance of sense into his words.  It was all rather overwhelming.  He went from finding out his savior was the womanizing bard, to being told he was basically adopted into M's little family of misfits.  He was familiar with the concept of family.  He'd seen them.  The closest he'd ever held was Eleanor, and that had ended very poorly.  The next closest thing had been his stay under the care of Lord Mallory.  That, however, wasn't like with Eleanor.  He was the Ward of a Lord.  He was given grace, and protection, but he was just a boy who had ended up under Mallory's care.  Not to say his Lord had not been very good to him, but it was different then it had been with Eleanor.  For one, he'd never hug or kiss his Lord on the cheek.  His Lord was also very protective of him, but not without undue cause.  Q could contribute that rather prevalent trait displayed by his Lord to the fact that Q had had survived numerous attempts on his life while staying under the man's care.  At one point he would have left, taken his chances out on the streets, but things played out differently then he had anticipated.

Now, here he was, standing in a cold land, in front of honey colored eyes and feeling the warmth of her hands pressed against his chilled fingers.  He could forgive himself the inability to work his tongue, however he didn't know how to explain such things to the people before him.  Q bent his head, clearing his throat as carefully disentangled his fingers from the woman's hands.  Besides all this, he really didn't trust himself to speak at present, and he refused to let the emotions show in his voice.

"Even if you are family, we're not blood kin," Eve sighed, pulling her hands back and placing them squarely on her hips.  "You won't be safe from the likes of Bond or Alec.  Keep on your toes around these Agents."

"You're one to talk, Miss Moneypenny," James snorted.  "Enough, already, we need to go.  Light is wasting, and I don't care to face shades in the dark of night.  You two can keep flirting on the way to Frostfall."  Bond moved to the stables, his eyes on three servants who were strapping saddle bags to Sleipnir.  Bond raised a hand, stopping one of the servants from loading down his steed with even more goods.  Eve whistled as the two watched the agent begin to pull off some of the extra supplies the servants had insisted on loading them down with.

"Well, I guess we'll be following Commander Bond's lead,"  Eve said, leading Q toward their mounts.  "Did you need to do anything here before we left?  Anything you need or want, you'll have to get it now."

"No, I'm good," Q said.  Bond grasped his saddle horn, pulling himself with practice into the saddle.  His black stallion snorted, making a circle around Q, before Bond pulled on the reines.  James reached down, offering Q his hand.

"I'm sure the good people of Windel would be willing to grant me a horse," Q said, glaring at the hand.

"They need their horses more then we do.  We'll see to setting you with a mount from M once we return.  Don't pout," James said to the Magi who was openly scowling at the hand James had offered him.  It was with a agitated sigh that Q took his hand and was pulled up behind the blond agent who was unaffected by Q's aggravated attitude.

~*~

He wasn't sure how it had happened.  Perhaps that was the point.  One moment, he'd been watering Sleipnir by the stream, allowing his magi to stretch his aching legs, and the next he was stumbling forward into the cold water.  Bond was aware of Eve's voice, Sleipnir bucking back on his hind legs, and then the second impact hit him and this time he fell forward.  Bond landed face first into the stream of cold water, recognition at the sensation slamming into him with all the pain that pushed through the initial shock.

He'd been shot. Twice.

Hands were upon him, pulling him out of the water, and James grasped for his dagger even as he was pulled back to the bank of the stream.  The one who had pulled him back, Q, wasn't looking at James, but at the figuares of several men who had encircled them.  James cursed himself as he shoved Q down upon the ground.

"Stay down!" Bond snarled as an arrow knocked into one of the men.  With his blades in hand, James was able to deflect the next bolt that was fired at him.  It stung, where the bolts stuck into the meat of his shoulder, but he would live.  Tossing up his short sword,  James used his now free hand to grasp a hidden dagger from his vest and tossed it at the archer who had shot him.  The dagger landed squarely between the man's eyes, killing him instantly.  Another black arrow fired, and the second archer of the group attacking them fell.  James spared a glance to Eve who was hunkered low, backing away from three men who were moving upon her.  She was being seperated from them, pushed down into the stream.

"Eve!" James barked as he caught the decending short sword that had returned from it's spinning arch in the air.  He wanted to roll his shoulder, to work the pain out of it before he charged the men, but it barely held the blade he had braced in his palm.  He grimaced when he realized that besides the cursed mark, with the bolts now ruining his ability to firmly grip his weapon, he was going to have to fight this battle one handed.  "Right," James said, tossing his long sword to Q, who floundered as he attempted to catch the weapon.  "Stay there," James directed as he moved toward the five armed men who moved in on him.  "You know who we are?" James said calmly.  He hoped they didn't, but as the man nearest to him broke eye contact for a second to affirm that Q was still within reach, James knew then that indeed they did know. They were not looking at their material goods, which he would expect from a group of bandits. No, these men had their eyes on another prize, and James could curse himeself for brinigng the magi out of the castle.

Second guessing his and M's plans was pointless now.  He felt no pity for the men who had ambushed them as he dove into their midst. Cutting out the legs of one man, James used his momentum to tumble away from the slash I g sword of another.  He spun back, using the falling man's frame as a shield to block the third man's attempt to run him through.  Kicking the poor bleding bastard back at his comrades, James picked off one while the other stumbled under the now dead body that the agent had tossed at him.  It gave him no pleasure to slice the last man's throat, because by this point James deduced just what they were.  They fought as children, unused to the weight of the weapons they held in their hands.  They lacked armor as well, their clothing simple and similar to many they had seen donned by those in the village.  

 

A distant cry alerted James to the fact that Eve had finished off the small group that had tried to corner her.  He spared a half smirk to the other agent who had turned from the fallen body at her feet to draw an arrow from her quiver and draw it tightly against the cord of her ebony bow.  Her honeyed eyes pinched as she looked past James to Q.

The younger man was silent as he was slowly being dragged away from the two deadly agents.  The last of their attackers held a blade under Q's chin, his eyes were wide with fright but it only served to tighten his hold on the younger man's arm.  Bond took a step closer to the retreating pair that earned a throaty warning from the spooked assailant.  The blade under Q's chin glisted with a ting of red as the man continued his retreat from the agents.  James' fingers lowered to his belt, where he kept another throwing dart, but Q's eyes went wide with anger as he shook his head.  Even the slight action drew more blood to drop across the silver dagger held against his throat.  Then the magi stepped just a hair to his left, blocking the shot James aimed to take.

"You'll never get away with this," Q said, drawing even more confusion from the agent as he stared into defiant brown eyes that were trying to pin him in place.  It was a moment later that Bond realized the magi was addressing his captor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delayed update. School and additional projects keep me tied up. I also wanted to wait until this was posted to affirm what was said in the comments. Also it posted this when my phone glitched so now that is the end of this chapter. I will have more sooner then later to make up for this.


	8. Severine

He demanded the agents drop their weapons as he pressed his dagger under Q's jaw.  Spit flew from the attacker's mouth as he positioned himself behind Q and dragged the other man away from James and Eve.  James eyes fell to the younger man's hands that held themselves open palmed with placation.  The blade he had given Q laid forgotten on the embankment. 

Q had already surrendered.

They couldn't drop their weapons.  It wasn't an option.  Eve lowered her bow, and James relaxed his grip, lowering the blade's tip toward the ground.  This was as far as they could acquiesce.  They were soldiers of M; They dropped their weapons when they died.  It was the way of the North-lands. To order such a thing of M's agents?  One thing was obvious to James in that moment; though these men were dressed in the cloths of their people, they were not of the North-lands.

Non combatants, and also not natives of the North.  Who were these men?

These thoughts mattered little.  More important than their origin was the fact that one of them currently still held a blade under their Q's throat.  M's apprentice bled under the pressure of the sharp edge that pressed into his skin. Even still he was trying to talk down the man who held him.  The entire time he strained to speak, he was shooting looks at Bond that were meant to keep the agent at bay.  Bond felt one of his brows rise in query.

"You want to let him go," Bond said, directing his voice at the man who held Q.  The target of Bond's charmed command hesitated, blinking several times as he shook under the compulsion.  "Lower your blade."  The man did no lower his blade though, and after shaking his head again, he cursed and threatened the Agents as he continued to pull Q back with him.

 Bond silently cursed his weakened state as he felt a chill fall upon his skin.  It was hard to charm without an tune, and harder still when you were bleeding out.  The Magi kept speaking, urging his captor to surrender.  Obviously a vain attempt to spare this man's life.  In as much as these men were not from the North-lands, it became painfully obvious to Bond that Q also had no knowledge of their ways.  They had been attacked, and it was required they defend themselves and that which was theirs.  Besides, these men had attacked two of M's Agents, and had drawn blood from their queen's apprentice.  Though Bond suspected he was the only one who knew of M's attachment to the younger magi, that did not change their fate.  Even if the man holding Q could be spared for questioning, there was but one end for him.  At best, a swift death would be a mercy.

It was their way.

The assailant had dragged the magi up the embankment, and when he just about disappeared from sight, a black arrow struck the man squarely between the eyes.  Q winced as blood spackled his face and the blade against his throat pulled slightly before falling away with the body of the man.  The magi looked down to find his would be captor's eyes wide and the lifeless as they stared up at him.

"Y-you didn't...  It wasn't necessary!" Q snapped as Eve moved quickly to stand beside the magi.  Her eyes scoped around them as she ignored the younger man's protests.  She only stopped to inspect him after surveying the area for any lingering threats. 

"We lost one.  I didn't see where he went.  There's no horses nearby," Eve began as she turned to James. "There's no way they tracked us on foot.  They may have laid in wait.  That would mean they knew we would have taken the pass from Windle to Frostfall." Eve murmured as Bond came up the embankment.  He stooped once to collect the blade Q had discarded.  Frowning, he shoved the sword into its scabbard as he came to glare down at the Magi.   "Bond, did you hear me?  They _knew_!" Eve hissed.

"Scout out their camp," James nodded at the woman who shot a disturbed look back to the senior agent.  Her eyes settling on the arrows that protruded from his dark leather armor.  She hesitated, but nodded curtly before sprinting along the tracks their attackers had made in the hard stone path.

"You," James pulled his long sword from his belt with one hand, before shoving it into Q's chest, "don't you _ever_ drop your weapon.  In the Midlands you may do such things, but not _here_.  You would shame us, Magi."  Q held the sheathed blade, his eyes peering down at the blade before turning his spectacled gaze back up to Bond.

"I had to," Q said, his eyes dropping to the two arrows protruding from Bond's shoulder.  "It would have been better if he had lived...  You know you're hurt, right?" Q added as reached a hand out to the ghastly looking wounds that oozed blood that was darker than it should have been.

"Better they stay in," James said, dipping his shoulder just out of Q's reach.  "They're keeping me from bleeding out. Mostly.  I know of a healer in Frostfall that can treat these wounds."  James out out a high whistle, and in a moment Sleipnir appeared from behind a rocky outcropping along the path.  When the stallion reached the agent, James reached painfully into his mount's satchel. Gingerly Bond pulled out a long strip of cloth. 

"Let me," Q said, as he shoved the scabbard blade into his pouched belt to free his hands.  Grasping the cloth, Q slipped the fabric around Bond's arm and secured the injured limb into a sling that braced his hand and arm tightly against his chest.  Q looked at the arrows, his eyes moving over to the paled and sweating brow of the agent with concern.  "You look horrible."

"Thanks," Bond huffed out a stiff laugh, rolling his eyes as he patted a bloody hand to the stallion's neck.

 Eve returned a short while later, her breath coming in soft gasps as she sprinted up to her companions.  She shot a worried look to James, shaking her head at the fellow agent.

"I found their camp.  No one else was there.  The last one got away.  I saw some tracks that lead off into the lower plains.  I would have followed him, but your wound can't wait."  Eve pressed her fingers to her lips, sending out a sharp whistle that drew her own mount, Mina, out of hiding.  "We need to get you to the healer.  Severine won't be happy that you decided to come back to her like this."

James gave Eve a half hearted grin, shaking his head as he prepared to mount his horse.

"You're in no shape to ride," Q said, even as James wrapped a hand upon his saddle and raised a foot into his stirrup.  The action alone caused him to let out a pained grow, as he shot the sputtering younger man a withering look

"Eve, can you take him?" Bond asked after he released a pained breath.  Eve nodded and reached down, nearly plucking Q up with one hand as she hefted him upon Mina's back. 

"I thought your mount didn't like me," Q commented as he was seated behind Eve and the steeds began a fast trot alone the rocky path.

"Mina is prideful, not stupid," Eve grumbled, as she shot a concerned look over to James.  "She knows you can't ride on Sleipnir, and that we need to hurry."

The pace was fast, and it wouldn't have been punishing, except that each step jostled James' arm and in turn worked the wounds.  The blood, tainted by the cursed mark, dripped down his chest and soaked his side.  He had closed his eyes a while ago, letting his friend sped them towards the town.  It wasn't the first time he had been shot, and James knew it would not be the last. 

He hoped, anyways.

However the arrows had pierced his cursed shoulder.  The poison that was held in check under the twisted rune markings of his flesh was leaking into his blood, flowing into his heart.  He felt the black poison seeping slowly and spreading through his body.  He was only alive now because M had managed to draw the poison back to the point of entrance.  She had not been able to remove it.  The curse laid upon the tip that pierced him and ensured that.  Now, with her runes disturbed, flesh torn, he was falling back to the day he had been shot.  Falling back into the dark that swallowed his vision.  The thoughts merged with sensation, and in some way, James realized he was indeed falling.  However, he didn't have the strength to open his eyes, let alone stop his decent.

~*~

Q gasped as he saw the hunched bard drop from his mount, landing with a sickly thud upon the hard ground.  Mina reared up, and Q dropped from her back, landing with an unusual gracefully upon his feet as he rushed to the fallen man.  He was aware that Eve voice had called first to James and then to him.  He carefully turned James over, and his eyes bulged as he took in the black tinged blood that had soaked down the agent's black garbed leathers.  He was soaked in blood that had stained down to the leathers of his chest and into belt and breaches.

"He's dying," Q breathed out, a hand tracing along the Bard's sweat covered brow.  "Eve!" Q turned to look up at woman, searching for something.  Some sign of hope, but her expression was a bleak mirror image of his own.  "He can't ride," Q said, shaking his head as he took in the bloodied man before him. Eve looked to debate the options.

"There's still several shades until Frostfall.  I can go ahead and get Severine, but, I don't know.  Even at a full run, we wouldn't be back until morning," Eve said.  Q nodded, at the woman who had only now shown any real fear.  Q knew why, it was obvious.  Bond would not be alive come sunset at the pace he was fading.

"Not like this," Q said, casting his eyes to the fallen man he was knelt beside.  Bond gave a ragged breath, but his eyes remained closed as he stayed laid out on the cold ground.  "He's too stubborn to die like this.  He'll make it."  Eve gave a sharp nod.

"Keep him safe.  Try to get him warm.  The temperatures will fall quickly once the sun sets.  I'll bring help!" With that Eve whispered a plea to Mina.  The mare took off in a full gallop, kicking up chunks of rock and dirt as both horse and rider disappeared down the path.

"Warm, warm," Q murmured.  Taking the bedroll from Sleipnir, Q draped the thick woolen blanket over Bond doing his best to avoid jostling the injured shoulder.  Wringing his hands nervously the magi quickly gathered up any twigs and sticks he could scrounge.  He tried to find Bond's flint, but the bard's pockets were soaked in dark red blood.  Pulling his hands away, Q pressed his lips into a thin line as he wrote a rune into the dirt.  Packing the rune with bits of grass, he held a thin bit of bark over the design as he channeled energy into the mark.  The grass caught on fire, and burned out in a flash, however the tinder in Q's hand also took the flame.  Depositing the fire under the piling of wood, he nursed the flames until they had taken a hold of the sparse collection of tinder.  The small fire wouldn't last but a few shades of the sun.  The heat it produced was also minimal, and even as the evening winds began to pick up it wavered.

Q paced back and forth behind Bond, a bloodied hand pressing into his hair as he tried to think.  He couldn't see any way out of this.  He knelt beside the bard, gingerly trying to place a hand over James' brow.  Even as he watched the man's flesh goose and shiver with cold, he felt the skin burning like fire under his touch.

"You're just going to go and die on me now?" Q gave a stained laugh as he slipped his hand from the agents brow and down to his cheek.  Bond's features were pinched, his breathing ragged and his eyes were closed.  "I just found you, and you're going to..."  Q swallowed, a frown pulling at his lips as he scowled at the agent.  "Yeah, course you would.  Jerk."  Q turned his eyes back to the sun.  He knew that Eve wouldn't have transverse the journey to the Frostfall yet.  Bond was stubbornly hanging on, but he wouldn't survive the wait.  Standing up, Q gripped the woolen blanket and flipped it off Bond.  Setting himself over James, Q lifted the blanket over his back.  Sleipnir huffed as the magi carefully covered the agent with his body.

"If you understand the common tongue," Q said, turning an eye to the dark stallion, "I'm going to try and save him.  If it works, you will find us in Frostfall."  Q used the blanket to cover both James and himself completely under the thick wool.  The sun was not yet set, and he didn't see any other way then this to secure themselves from the light of the sun.

"007," Q said as he rubbed a hand across the agent's cheek.  "007, do you hear me?  James," Q said, using the agent's name despite his prior preference, desperate to illicit a reaction.  Upon hearing his name, the agent stirred, but his eyes did not open.  Q allowed himself to smile at the disapproving grunt he received for all the young magi's  prodding.  "James, I need you to concentrate.  You've been to Frostfall.  You know a healer there.  You called them Severine.  Can you picture this person?  Where they live?  I need you to picture them, their home.  Severine, James.  Come on now, concentrate."  Q whispered as he pressed his forehead against James' brow.  The wet, hot skin contacted with Q, and with it also came images.  James' thoughts were scattered, and even as Q tried to sort out the waves of random strings of thought he murmured the healer's name over and over again to the agent until one image solidified behind his eyes.  Taking in a breath, Q followed that image, dark eyes, blood red lips painted over pale skin.

Other thoughts fell away and Q was able to follow this woman, and memories that attached to those dark eyes.  Lips twisted in amusement, a soft laugh, a kiss, hot and wet.  Q flushed as he cupped James' face in his hands.

"Where does she live?  She lives in Frostfall.  James, where does she _live_?"  The scene did not really change, and Q soon found himself a third party observer as James and this woman were entangled upon a bed of thick furs.  The room was cool, but a fire burned in the hearth giving flickers of warmth and light to the home.  Q turned his eyes from the sounds of the two as they moved together upon the bed.  He searched the room, desperately trying to find an area that would be open to him.

A trilled laugh brought Q's eyes back to the bed.  James' back was to him, muscles glistening under sweat as he slid hands over soft thighs that held him about the waist, pulling the agent in tightly.  Long painted nails trailed upon his broad shoulders, as dark, black eyes glistened with mirth staring straight at Q.  Q froze, feeling those eyes pierce through him.  It was a memory.  This woman couldn't see him.   He knew that, but even as those thoughts crossed his mind, he watched her smile grow even wider.  Her moans mixed with laughs, as she lifted a hand from the back of the agent and drew a long finger towards Q, slowly beckoning to the Magi.

Q wanted to speak, but of course he could not.  Instead he watched as the pair reached climax, collapsing down upon the bed.  Under the tangle of furs and limbs, the woman's eyes did not leave Q's own.  Her finger continued to beacon him forward, before slowly pointing down to the bed itself.

Q gasped, focusing on the bed, and not the two who inhabited it.  He took in the height of it, and puffed out a breath of relief.  It would be a tight fit, but what choice did he have?  Focusing on the shadows that lay below the bed, Q drew from the tangible world about him.  He had two points, and all that he lacked now was the connecting path.  Focusing upon the shadows under the bed that he had seen in James' memories, the Magi held tightly to the man below him as the sunk through the earth and shadows.

The trip through the dark was nearly instantaneous.  Passing through shadow was not the same as passing through the world as most people knew it.  Q felt the cold of the wind disappear, to be replaced with a soft warmth.  He opened his eyes, and in the distance he could see the hearth that had laid in James' memoires.  Now, it held a pot that bubbled with the smell of a stew, and while several things had changed, Q was relieved when he recognized this as being the same room that had been in James' mind.  There was always the chance they could have ended up somewhere else.

Q's relieved sigh was caught in his throat as the mattress of the bed was hefted up.  The woman whom Q had seen having sex with James now stood before him.  She had long, wavy black hair pulled tightly into a bun and was dressed in a form fitting black dress.  Her dark eyes looked past the bed's slants to take in the image of first Q and then the man below him.

"You didn't give me much warning," The woman snipped under her breath.  Her accent was strange, and one Q couldn't place.  She motioned with her head for Q to come out from under the bed.  Q shimmied free of the bed's frame.  Once free, both he and the dark haired woman carefully pulled Bond out onto the stone floor of the small cottage.  James grunted in pain, a smear of blackened blood leaving a trail from where he'd been dragged.

"Hold his head," The woman directed as she helped Q prop the agent's up against the magi's lap.  She quickly rushed out of the room.  She was gone for a moment, but returned carrying a kit and a two vials.  She had Q hold open James' mouth as they poured the first one down his throat.  "Now, lay him down.  I will need you to hold him."

What followed next was not exactly what Q expected.  He held Bond as the woman cut open the bard's tunic.  Q did not expect to see the scrawled black writing the pulsated with disjointed energy around the arrows that had pierced magical writing upon the agent's shoulder.  The woman didn't appear phased at seeing this, and instead braced herself and made quick work of pulling out the arrows.  James let out a pain filled growl after each bolt was extracted.  The woman poured a second vial into the wounds even as a black inky substance bubbled out and mixed with the blood that was staining the rug below them.

"Fuck this curse!  It's seeping into his heart," Severine hissed as the potion she'd poured into the wounds slowed the bleeding but did not cause it to stop. "That should have closed over the wounds," She said turning an eye up to Q.  "I can't cauterize the wounds.  If I do, the runes that hold in the curse will be even more disturbed then they already are.  Can you do it?"

"Cauterize the wounds?" Q asked, quirking his brow up at the woman.

"Can you _fix_ the runes," Severine whispered under her breath as she stared into Q's eyes.  

"...I don't know," Q admitted, eyeing the healer warily for the first time.  The healer took out a patch of bandage from her kit, and pressed it against the now sluggishly bleeding wounds.  "Take it.  Put pressure on it," She directed Q.  The Magi, swallowed hard, but quickly followed her instructions.  She stood once more, disappearing from the room again.  Q watched her go with some trepidation.

There were several things his brain was cataloging all at once.  She had called him to her, of this he was certain.  Plus, she knew he could create runes, which meant she knew he was a magi.  Even still, Q felt no pulse of magic from the woman, so how had she known?  One thing that Q knew without a doubt was that the woman in the other room knew him.  She knew exactly what he was, and it drew a shiver of dread up his spine.  He didn't sense any malice from her, but then again they were both currently equally invested in saving the agent who was panting painfully upon the floor.  Q grimaced, as he pulled back the cloth for a moment to inspect the writing.  The runes were artfully created.  They were beautiful, and were it not for the holes in the flesh the writing would be complete and sound.  Maybe not perfect, but then again, Q suspected they were flawed in their conception.  They held a poison in check, protecting it from flooding 007's heart, but the curse was too strong to be held in check, or removed.  Q watched as Bond shivered under his hands.  The wounds from the arrows were not what currently held the man's life on edge.  It was the poison seeping into his veins.

Q blinked with inspiration as he pressed the cloth back over the black oozing wound.

He could fix the writing upon James' chest, but he didn't want to.  The curse was flawlessly created, and it needed to run its course.  Until that time, it would not leave, and could not be broken.  The problem, Q suspected, as that if it ran its course, it would kill James in the process.

There were ways around that, if James could survive the process.  He didn't see much choice in this though, since it was apparent that if he didn't do something, James was going to die.


	9. Taken

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they said, he opens them.

James awoke slowly.  His throat croaked even as he tried to take in a breath, and even his eyes refused to cooperate with his commands.  Blinking back sleep, James took stock of his surroundings.  Recognizing the bedroom as that of the Frostfall healer, James moved to rise from the thick furs that weighed him down. He gasped in pain, at the action.  Hands were upon his chest instantly.  James turned his eyes toward Eve as the woman pressed him back down into the bed.  She was saying something, but with the blood pushing through his skull James couldn't make heads or tails of what that could be.

"Moment... Eve," James rasped out, even as she brought a flask of water to his lips.  Drinking from the flask eagerly, it was only then that James realized how desperately thirsty he was.  He eyed his shoulder, and the white bandages that wrapped around his chest. The arrows were gone, and the bandages didn't appear to be soaked with blood.  Some time had passed then. "How long?"

"Two days," Eve informed him after he'd relaxed back into the bed.  "We nearly lost you, Commander," Eve frowned.

"I'm not in the business of dying, Eve," James smirked as he closed his eyes.  Just as they closed, they shot open again.  Carefully raising his left hand, James felt the healing muscles pull and strain as he slowly made a fist.  It was painful to be sure, but it was nothing compared to the pain he'd been under.  Eve caught his eye, and gave him a slow nod.  "How?" Was all he managed to get out.

"I don't know.  I was hoping you had some idea," Eve murmured, her eyes darting to the bedroom's window.  "I was surprised enough to find you were already here when I showed up.  Then, I saw your mark, or the lack there of.  How is it possible?  How could he do what M could not, James?"  Eve took a vial from the table and handed it over to her fellow agent who downed the familiar healing elixir.  The stench was enough to awaken the senses even if the potions' healing abilities did not.

"What do you mean I was already here?  What happened Eve?"  James asked.  Eve explained to James everything that happened after he had fallen from his horse.  There was a very big hole in her explanation, though.  She told him how she had rode ahead to bring Severine back to James.  He disliked that she had left Q alone like that.  However, the more pressing issue was that at her fastest gallop, Mina had taken Eve to Frostfall in record time.  When she had arrived at Severine's cottage, Eve had found James was already there being bandaged in the healer's bed.  Eve's keen eyes noticed instantly that the runes that had held in James' curse somehow had faded away.  Since he did not die, and appeared to be on the mend, all signs pointed to the curse lifting.

"Where is Q?  What did he say when you asked him about it?" James asked, shifting up on the bed as the potion began to work out the worst of the knots and pains.

"Q didn't _say_ anything.  Severine is no better.  Those two are thick as thieves, and neither is saying what happened.  Said they'd explain when you woke up.  I know they didn't ride Sleipnir here.  He didn't show up till the morning after I arrived."

"Right.  Where is Q?" James coughed as he asked again the location of the absent magi.  Sitting up, James swung his legs over the bed.  The pain that rocked him was a fraction of what it was before, but it was still enough to make him halt his ascent.

"He's out with Severine right now," Eve explained.  "She's gone to the market to gather some ingredients for another potion I think," Eve said as she stood beside her Commander, prepared to catch him should he fall.

"You're being very lax in guarding our Magi, Eve," James admonished, shuffling to the hearth and finding the remains of his tunic and vest.  Sighing, he tossed the tattered remnants of his outfit across the room.

"Sir, I don't agree," Eve said.  "It's become apparent to me, that Q is a magi of some note.  If he can do that," she gestured to James' shoulder.  "In fact, I wonder if M knows of his true capabilities.  He could even be...  Dangerous," Eve added the last hesitantly, her eyes darting to the floor for a moment.  "It may not be safe, having him so close to her.  It may be for the best if he were to not return to the castle~"

"He's her apprentice," Bond hissed through clenched teeth.  Leaving the bedroom, and a stunned Eve, James went into the cabin's larder to find the wine Severine kept on hand.  When he returned, pulling out the bottle's cork, it was to find Eve collapsed upon the ground.  Her hands were pressed into her face as her body racked with silent sobs.  Taking a long swig, James worked himself over to the chair she'd been occupying when he had awoken.  He took another drink, waited, and then pushed the bottle at the grieving woman.  He hadn't wished to say anything on the subject, but he had stop the train of thought his fellow agent had fallen upon.  Eve sniffed, brushed the steady stream of water from her eyes, and accepted the bottle from James.  Taking a hearty swig, Eve gasped and hiccupped before taking another.

"H-how do you know?" Eve asked, her voice wavering only at the first.

"M told me," James breathed out, relaxing back in his seat.

"She sent him away.  I thought maybe it was to test him, but this?  Why send him away?  She should be keeping him close."

"It's complicated, Eve," James said, not wishing to go into Q's apparent ability to open pathways into the dark.  In that moment James' eyes snapped open and he jerked forward.  Instantly regretting the movement, he brought a hand to his healing shoulder and cursed.

"What is it?" Eve asked at the sudden agitation that had overtaken Bond.

"He opens them," Bond murmured rubbing his chin.  "I need to find him," James said standing up quickly.  Far too quickly.  He staggered on his feet for a moment, bracing his hand against the armrest of the chair.  In that moment they heard the door to the cabin open.  Severine's voice cooed in loving tones as she opened the door to the bedroom.  In her arms was a basket full of herbs, mushrooms, and several jars.  She eyed both the agents, before stepping aside and smiling sweetly back at Q.  The younger man took in the two agents, and it was impossible to miss the mark of fear that laced through the magi's brown eyes.

"Ja- 007," Q said when he saw the man standing in the bedroom.  "I don't think you should be out of bed yet."

"Ha!  Fear not Q.  Mr. Bond is not one to keep to a healer's prescribed bed rest," Severine chuckled.  "Not unless there's company, no?  It's good you are moving around Bond.  We were just wondering when you would wake up." Severine hummed.  Grasping the basket held by a befuddled Q, Severine moved away from her guests.  The supple woman brushed up against the young magi and whispered something into his ear before disappearing into the back stores with her abundance.

"Q, we need to talk," James said.  The color dropped even further from the magi's pale skin as he bit down into his lip.

"Not now!  I'll make something for us to eat first," Severine called from the kitchen.

"Right," James crossed the room, grabbed Q's wrist, and pulled him into the bedchamber as Severine's hollered threats were ignored.  James turned his icy blue gaze to Eve.

"I have a right to know!" Eve snapped.

"Don't make me pull rank," James' voice was as cold as his gaze.  Eve hesitated a moment before standing up and leaving the room in an angry huff.

"Really, wouldn't you rather wait for some food first?  At least have some tea."  Q suppressed a flinch as James latched the door behind Eve and turned that hard gaze upon him.  "Bugger.  Severine was going to brew up some nice Midland leaves for me.  Stars how I've missed a good cup!"

"I'm giving you the courtesy of telling me privately," James said, as he moved to stand between Q and the door.  "Eve is not privy to all of M's secrets.  You happen to be one of them.  M's told me about you."  Q's dark, knowing eyes peering behind thick glasses as the slender magi caught Bond's gaze.

"Has she?" Q asked, his voice detached as a small smile worked up the corner of his mouth.  "Yet here you are, demanding answers.  That's rather showing your hand, 007.  I would ask you to keep in mind, agent, that I've shown by my actions that I'm not a threat to you."

"I didn't say you were," Bond said as he moved closer to Q.   The magi backed away from the agent, his legs catching against the bed.  James reached out, pushing against Q's chest and lowering the man to sit upon the bed.  "You did this," Bond said, jerking his head to his bandaged shoulder.

"I take it you don't mean the wrappings," Q cleared his throat with a cough into his hand.  "Yes."  After some silence, Q huffed, crossing his arms in front of his chest.  "Well, what of it?  I can't imagine you want it explained to you.  If you must know, I'm very good with runes.  I assume the ones upon you were written by M.  They were beautiful.  I'm sorry to see them go, but it was that or your life.  While we're on that topic, when were you planning on telling me you were cursed?"

"Not your business!" James snapped.  The ire that had risen in Q at the last fell away.  Q flinched at Bond's reprimand, but his gaze didn't break from the agent.  Taking a breath, Bond rubbed a hand down his face as he broke the stare, trying to squash the strange feeling of guilt that was bubbling inside.  "We didn't tell you why we took you from the castle.  We did, but not all of it," James said, taking a seat in the chair beside the bed.  "Yes, M needed to fortify the castle wards, but that's because of _you_ were making holes in them.  You were opening paths into the Dark.  We didn't think you knew what you were doing, and it was better if we didn't mention the real reason we needed you out of the castle.  A foreigner breaking our Queen's wards?  It wouldn't go well for you, or your Lord." James shot an eye at Q who went ridged as James spoke.

"This... This is why you didn't wish to discuss this in front of Eve?  She doesn't know," Q nodded once in understanding.  Q fidgeted with his fingers, casting  a sidelong glance toward James.  "Will she kill me?"

James returned the stare evenly, before shaking his head.  Q let out a breath of relief.  "She was thinking about it.  Sees you as dangerous.  She won't, not now.  Don't hold it against her," James tapped a finger upon the armrest of the chair.  "Q, I don't think you were intentionally opening the paths into the Dark in the palace.  To get here though, you did that though, didn't you?  You opened one and moved us through the shadows?"

"You asked me before," Q said, as he studied his fingers that were clasped in his lap, "how I had gotten from the Dark to the Midlands?  It was in much the same way.  Well, except I didn't know where I was going before.  You never came back, and the shades had started to look for me.  I couldn't~," Q's eyes were distant, focused on memories that obviously terrified the man.  Shaking his head to dissipate the tremor that had started to take him over, the magi shook away the past as he continued, "It's like stepping through a door.  They're everywhere, even if you don't see them.  I think when I ran that time I got lost.  I don't know how long I fell through the shadows, but I didn't have any sense of direction.  Without knowing where I'm going, it seems I can end up anywhere.  The distance transversed in the shadows isn't the same.  That's to say nothing of the other 'things' that are traveling through the shadows with you."

"Well, you got us here in one piece," James offered a tired smile to the younger man who flushed scarlet as he gave James a sidelong glance.

"Yes, ah, well, I'll have to thank you and Severine for that.  You were out of it, but you're, uh, 'input' helped me narrow a location." Q muttered under his breath as he frowned down at the furs of the bed.

"I've never heard of a magi being able to travel the shadows before, Q.  Does M know you can do this?" James asked, certain there were many things his Queen kept secret even from him.  Q shook his head.

"It's not something I normally do, to be honest.  I don't like it.  It would be too much to ask you to keep this between us, wouldn't it," Q gave a dry laugh.  "Honestly, I'm just glad you're not going to skin me alive.  Anything associated with the Dark, even using it to travel, is generally considered iniquitous in nature."

"It's not something I would advertise," James nodded to Q.  "I don't know of a way to travel the way you did that Eve would accept either.  Keep silent on that until you can talk with M and come up with a decent cover.  I'll talk to Eve.  She'll follow my lead.  She might not like not being kept out of the loop, but she'll follow orders."

"Well, it's a relief to know that neither of you is going to be killing me." Q said dryly, but the smile hooking upon his lips gave the younger man away.

"Alright, I think that Severine said something about food," Bond said, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck.  He was sure he wasn't developing a fever, but it felt the like the temperature in the room had gone up.  Agitated at his body reacting without his permission, James rose carefully from the chair.  It wasn't his fault that Q was disturbingly adorable when he smiled like that.  James wondered if part of this frustration wasn't due to the fact that he'd self-declared Q off limits.  "I'll handle Eve."

"I can't imagine anyone 'handling' Eve," Q gave a soft laugh as he stood up from the bed. James shot a sharp smile over his shoulder as he unlatched the door.  As Q stood up he stumbled and fell over, face first onto the floor.  James barked out a laugh at the Magi's expense.  Reaching down, James picked up Q's glasses which had slid across the floor only to rest near his feet.

"You're a bit of a klutz, Q," James' humored grin fell as he took in the expression on the sprawled magi's face.  Q's hands were braced under his chest, dark eyes turning their unfocused gaze up toward James.  Those dark eyes were wide as the color drained instantly from the Magi's face.  Q's mouth unhinged, and for a moment no sound came out.  James caught the look of horror that twisted Q's expression.  In that moment the Magi shot away from James, sliding back unnaturally as his legs disappeared under the bed.  James' name, and not his designation, broke as  a cry upon the Magi's lips.

James saw it a moment too late.

The pale hands that were gripped about Q's ankles.  The slender limps that dragged the magi under the bed.  James dove for Q, reaching out to grasp the younger man's hands that were desperately trying to gain purchase upon the stone floor.  It was just a moment, but it stretched out painfully before Bond as he watched Q's terrified face as he disappeared into the shadows cast under Severine's bed.

"Q?!" Eve burst through the unlatched, partially open door to find James laying upon the floor.  One hand reached out toward nothing, the other gripping a familiar pair of spectacles.  Severine rushed into the room as well, her eyes taking in James and the lack of the Magi who's calls had summoned them.

"What happened," Severine demanded as she shoved her way up to James even as stood slowly from the floor.  He shook his head, confusion and shock still dominating his sight.  Severine pushed past the agent who was looking perplexedly down at her bed.  Using both her hands she reached down, and hoisted up the mattress and blankets in one go.  The dark haired woman cursed as she began to pull the covering from her bed.

"What are you doing?  What happened to Q?!" Eve demanded of the two who had stopped talking.  "007!" Eve snapped, wrapping a hand around Bond's bicep to jerked the man around to face her.  The confusion that had once dominated his sharp features cleared slowly, to be replaced with hard anger.  It was enough to cause Eve to release the older agent, and send a shiver down her spine.  If the deathly look he held had been directed at her, she would have backed away from him as well.  However, it wasn't her that Bond was seeing, and Eve had seen that expression upon the agent before.

The predatory look did not leave his face even as he gathered up his gear and began to don his gear.  Q's glasses were placed upon the table as Bond's eyes fell upon a package set aside from the rest of the items Q and Severine had retrieved from their morning excursion.

"Our target, Commander?" Eve asked as she picked up her bow and quiver.

 James said nothing as he unwrapped the package to expose a new tunic.  Slipping the fabric over his head, James strapped on his swords.  Pulling a cloth from the kitchen, Bond wrapped up the glasses that he had placed upon the table, securing them into a pouch about his belt.

"You don't even know where he is," Came Severine's voice from the bedroom just as James moved to the door to leave the cabin.  A fur blanket was still in her hand. The rest of the room behind her appeared as though a twister had taken hold and flipped over near all the furniture.

"I'll find him," James said as he placed his hand upon the latch of the door.

"You'll waste precious time searching for him!" Severine admonished, dropping the fur in her hands as she strode up to James and placed her fists upon her hips.  "I can locate him."

"What's your price?" James asked as he turned his icy stare upon the woman who didn't flinch under the gaze that had caused so many others cower.

"No price, no tricks," Severine stated flatly.  Lifting up her fist from her hip, she opened her palm to let an onyx ring dangle freely from a tarnished silver chain in the air between her dark gaze and that of James' frozen blue ones.  "I only ask that you won't run off half cocked and get yourself, and him, killed.  You will save him, Mr. Bond.  Now, I need my map."  With that Severine spun on her heel, rushing to the kitchen where she kept several of her alchemy books.

"Where did you get that ring?" Eve demanded as Severine selected was wide, flat tome.  Pulling it out she set it upon the table as she shoved the baskets from her and Q's morning aside.  Flipping open the book, it fell instantly upon a well worn map of the North-Lands.

"We don't have time for pseudo-magics!" Eve snapped, but James held up his hand commanding the other agent to halt.

"How long will it take you?" James asked, as Severine held the ring over the map, letting it dangle upon it's chain as rocked side to side.

"That depends on how much he's imprinted upon the ring." Severine said.

"I have his glasses," Bond said, taking a hand to reach for his belt but Severine shook her head.

"He's had this longer.  He told me as much," The dark haired woman craned her neck to look at James for a moment, before returning to her task. "You know I don't bet, Mr. Bond.  However, I would say this won't take long, if I was inclined to wager."

~*~

Q was pulled back though the dark, pale arms crushing him in a vice like grip.  He struggled against the touch, but he gained no purchase against the hold.  The warmth of Severine's cottage was replaced by a damp, cool air.  Q was dragged, face down across stones and moss covered earth.  He hissed in pain as several rocks scratched against his cheek as he was pushed down into the moist earth.

His arms were grasped as a weight pressed into his back, pinning him in place as his wrists were wrapped tightly with a corded rope.  Even as Q struggled to fight off the hold, the pressure against his joints and ribs increased causing a moan of pain to escape the magi's lips.  His arms were braced behind his back, and Q felt his ankles become lashed together, before wrists and ankles were anchored off each other and he found himself hogtied on the floor of a dark cavern.  The weight lifted off his back, and Q flipped, rocking back and pushing as best he could away from the person who had held him. 

Pale arms crossed in front of a tall dark, silken garbed figure.  Black liquid pools blinked down at Q, their eyes reflecting the minimal light that pierced into the cavern caused them to illuminate like a cat's in the dark.  The thin frame deceptively hid the abnormal strength that had manhandled Q as though he were no more than an errant child.  The expression upon the long, sharp featured face was hard for Q to read.  Only that the relaxed stance held no edge of concern for any threat that Q may pose.  Truly, his captor looked rather put out.

"Non spectare ad multum . Difficile est credere, hoc extremum est sanguinis." He said, turning a milky white face over his shoulder. Another moved in the dark. The second man was of similar moon kissed skin with black eyes, long braided ebon hair, and his arms and legs moved like as a willow swayed. Feet dressed in fine cured hides made no sound as he moved as a ghost towards Q. This new pair of black eyes also took in the sight of him. It's wasn't long before the second man was turning up their chin with a clear look of disgust settling across deathly white features. "Ultima pars magni senioribus. Miserabilis." The second one sniffed, before reaching into the many folds of his intricately designed coat. "Heu, ut non interficeret." He was beside Q in an instant, pushing Q into the ground as his dagger dragged lazily across the young man's face and down along his neck. Q tried to focus on breathing, anything to not let his panic take hold. It wouldn't do to let the fear take control of his mind, but he was finding it hard when set face to face against the beings that haunted his nightmares. Unlike in dreams, now they were corporal, and holding him tied as one caressed a glistening blade lazily across his skin. "Einar," Q breathed, naming them. A hand gripped the curls of his hair, jerking his head back and exposing his throat. Q could do nothing to stop the hiss of pain that ripped from his throat. Q pressed his lips together and fought back the urge to whimper as all of his joints were pulled taunt in the hold. If he was lucky, they'd become bored with him and end it quickly. Q feared, however, that he was not one known for having luck. 

~TBC

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Q. So, Severine is practicing witchcraft. Thought I'd touch on this a little here since I don't intend to go into it very much in the story. As Eve has shown, it's not considered respectable, or even real magic by some. Things such as reading tea leaves, casting blessings, or dowsing would all fall into this realm. Also, things such as potion brewing and alchemy. Though potions can be potent, they are using natural resources and are not considered magic by anyone. The rune writing Q is so gifted at is a throwback to his coding skills, and I will be expanded upon later. He never bothered to actually say what he 'did' end up doing to remove that curse. I can't say the next chapter will be up as quickly as the last two have been but I will try. Apologies on another cliffhanger.

**Author's Note:**

> James Bond is not mine, I own nothing. All non-OC characters are property of their copyright holders.


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